fiji i 



UNGFORTHE MAGAZINES 






J.BERGESENWEiN 



% 



Irll. 



iin 



mw^\ 



^\ii\ '< 






Wife 
ij| lit :'■::>' 



wmmi 



iiia; 



U 



i. 



■■'«> vii; 



P 



1 

ir.i V 
i 


i:. ■;:;•; :;";■• 





.: i;i 



AUTHORITATIVE HELP ON ALL 
KINDS OF MAGAZINE WRITING 
WITH RlEiilABLE NEW DATA ON 
WHAT THE EDITORS WANT AN D 
HOW THEY V^NT::iTr WRITTEN 




Book__ 



.Jaaak 



Copyright]^?, 



CQEQMGHT DEPOSm 



THE WRITER'S LIBRARY 

Edited bt J. Berg Esenwein, a.m., litt.d. 



WRITING THE SHORT-STORY 

THE STANDARD MANUAL FOR AMA- 
TEUR AND PROFESSIONAL, WRITERS 
BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 

457 pp. Cloth; $1.25, postpaid 



WRITING THE PHOTOPLAY 

A COMPLETE COURSE OP INSTRUCTION 

IN WRITING AND SELLING 
BT J. B. ESENWEIN AND ARTHUR LEEDS 

384 pp. Cloth ; illustrated; 
$2.12 postpaid 



THE ART OF STORY-WRITING 

AN EXPLICIT GUIDE FOR WRITING 

ALL SHORT FICTIONAL FORMS 

BY J. B. ESENWEIN AND M. D. CHAMBERS 

222 pp. Cloth; $1.35, postpaid 



WRITING FOR VAUDEVILLE 

A FULL BOOK OF INSTRUCTION ON 

THE WRITING OF ALL VAUDEVILLE 

FORMS 

BY BRETT PAGE 

639 pp. Cloth; $2.15, postpaid 



STUDYING THE SHORT-STORY 

SIXTEEN COMPLETE MASTERPIECES 

WITH ANALYSES AND MANY HELPS 

BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 

470 pp. Cloth ; $1.25, postpaid 



THE ART OF VERSIFICATION 

A CLEARLY-STATED WORKING HAND- 
BOOK FOR WRITERS AND STUDENTS 
BY J. B. ESENWEIN AND M. E. ROBERTS 

323 pp. Cloth ; $1.62, postpaid 



THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 

AN INSPIRING AND PRACTICAL BOOK 

THAT REALLY SHOWS THE WAY 

BY J. B. ESENWEIN AND DALE CARNAGEY 

526 pp. Cloth ; $1.75, postpaid 



THE TECHNIQUE OF PLAY 
WRITING 

AN AUTHORITATIVE MODERN GtriDE 

TO THE WRITING AND SELLING OF 

PLAYS 

BY CHARLTON ANDREWS 

299 pp. Cloth ; $1.62, postpaid 



THE TECHNIQUE OF THE MYSTERY STORY 

THE ONLY EXPOSITION OF THIS FASCINATING 
AND POPULAR FORM 
BY CAROLYN WELLS 

350 pp. Cloth $1.62, postpaid 



READY OCTOBER 1916 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

METHODS FOR WRITING ALL KINDS 
OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 
BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 



WRITING THE POPULAR SONG 

THE ONLY COMPLETE AND AUTHORI- 
TATIVE MANUAL 
BY E. M. WICKES 



IN PREPARATION 



MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION 

INCLUDING PROOFREADING, SPELLING, 

CAPITALIZATION, ETC. 
BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 



THE WRITER'S BOOK OF 
SYNONYMS 

BY J. BERG ESENWEIN AND C. O. SYLVES- 
TER MAWSON 



JOURNALISM AND 
JOURNALISTIC WRITING 

BY ERNEST NEWTON BAGG, WITH 

CHAPTERS BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 

AND BRETT PAGE 



CHILDREN'S STORIES 
AND HOW TO TELL THEM 

BY J. BERG ESENWEIN AND MARIETTA 
STOCKARD 



THE RHYMER'S WORD BOOK 

A FULL CATALOGUE OF RHYMING 

WORDS 

BY J. BERG ESENWEIN AND CHARLES 

MORRIS 



MAKING THE RURAL NEWS- 
PAPER 

BY MERLE THORPE 



OTHER VOLUMES TO BE ANNOUNCED 



Writing for the Magazines 



,^ 



BY 

J.i BERG ESENWEIN, F. R. S. A. 

EDITOR OF "the WRITEr's MONTHLY," SOMETIME 

EDITOR OF LIPPINCOTT's MAGAZINE, AND FORMER 

DIRECTOR IN THE PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS* 

ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 



THE WRITER'S LIBRARY 

EDITED BY J. BERG ESENWEIN 



THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
PUBLISHERS 



^4 



Copyright 1 91 6 

The Home Correspondence School 

All Rights Reserved 



ii 






JAN -2i9l7 

S)CI,A453440 



To THE Memory of 

HAROLD 

Long Loved — and Lost a While 

This Little Book is Dedicated 



Contents 

Page 
Why this Book? — A Foreword .... xiii 
Suggestions to Teachers and Students of Jour- 
nalism AND English xv 

Chapter I — The Magazine and the Newspaper i 

1. Origin of the Magazine i 

2. What is the Modern Magazine^ and How Does it 

Difer Typically from the Newspaper? . . 4 

Chapter II — Kinds of Magazines .... 9 
Table : Various Types of Magazines — with 

Addresses 10 

Chapter III — Kinds of Magazine Material . 19 

1. Clear-cut Purpose is Necessary . . . . 19 

2. A Knowledge of Varieties is Valuable . . 20 

3. Listing the Kinds of Magazine Material . . 20 

4. Versatility is Essential 21 

5. Devising New Kinds of Material ... 23 

6. Broad Classes of Material 24 

Questions and Exercises 25 

Chapter IV — The Sources of Magazine Mate- 
rial . 27 

1. The Specific Sources of Material . . . . 27 

2. Conserving Material 36 

J. Using the Work of Others 41 

Questions and Exercises 41 



VIII CONTENTS 

Page 

Chapter V — Information and Method Items . 43 

1. The Necessary Equipment 44 

2, Where to Find Material 45 

J. How to Write a Paragraph 48 

Complete Examples 49 

4. Marketing the Items 52 

Questions and Exercises 52 

Chapter VI — ^The Short Article .... 54 

1. The Information-Article 54 

Complete Example . . . . . . 55 

2, The Experience-Article 57 

Complete Example . . . , . . 59 

J. The Interpretative Article . , ... 61 

Four Complete Examples . . . . 62 

Questions and Exercises . . . . . . 66 

Chapter VII — ^The Full-Length Article . . 69 

1, What Shall I Write About? 69 

Table : Fifty Typical Subjects and Titles of 

Magazine Articles 74 

2. Opening the Article 77 

Eight Examples 78 

J. The Body of the Article 83 

4, The Length of the Article 84 

Table: Length of Articles Used by Forty- 
five Magazines . ..... 86 

5. Ending the Article 88 

Guide Posts for the Writer of Articles . 89 

Questions and Exercises 90 



CONTENTS IX 

Page 
Chapter VIII — Humorous Writing . . . 92 
■ I . The Basis of the Laughable . . . . . 93 

2. Six Kinds of Humor 98 

J. The Common Types of Humorous Writing . 99 

Fifty Complete Examples .... 100 

4. Hints on Methods of Work 114 

j. Markets for Humor 116 

Questions and Exercises . . . . . .117 

Chapter IX — Magazine Poetry . . . .119 

1. Length . . . 120 

Table: Average Length op 305 Magazine 

Poems 120 

2. Form 122 

J. Theme 123 

Table: Themes of 305 Magazine Poems . 124 

4. Tone 127 

Suggestions for Versifiers . . . .127 
Questions and Exercises ; 128 

Chapter X — ^Light Verse . . . . .129 

1. Vers de Societe . . . . ■ . . . 129 
Example 130 

2. Satirical Verse 130 

Example 130 

3. Humorous Verse . 130 

Four Examples 131 

4. Parody and Travesty 132 

Four Examples 132 

5. Nonsense Verse 134 



X CONTENTS 

Page 

Two Examples 135 

6. The Limerick 136 

Four Examples 137 

7. Whimsical Verse 137 

S. General Observations 138 

Mr. Arthur Guiterman's Advice to Verse 

Writers 139 

Questions and Exercises 141 

Chapter XI — Magazine Fiction . . . .143 

1. The Fictional Sketch 143 

2. The Tale 144 

J. The Short-Story . . . . . . . 145 

Table: Average Length of 829 Short- 
Stories in 40 Magazines . . . .146 

Table: Percentage of Short-Stories of 

Distinction Published During 191 5 . . 151 

Table: Short-Stories of Distinction Pub- 
lished IN ''Scribner's" During 1915 . 152 
4. Longer Magazine Fiction 153 

Table: Length of Long Magazine Fiction 
AND Number and Length of Installments 

— Forty-three Magazines . . . - 156 

Ten Maxims for Beginners in Fiction Writ- 
ing . 158 

Questions and Exercises -159 

Chapter XII — Plays 160 

I. Kinds of Plays Used in the Magazines . . 161 



CONTENTS XI 

Page 

2. Good Fonn for Dramatic Manuscripts . . 164 

Examples 164 

5. Simple Hints on Play Construction . . .166 

Questions and Exercises 168 

Chapter XIII — Editorial Work . . . .169 

1, The Editorial Staff and Its Duties . . . 169 

2. Qualifications of an Editor 176 

J. How Editorial Positions are Attained . . 178 

Chapter XIV — Points on Preparing Manuscript 182 

1. Revising the Manuscript 182 

2. The Value of Typewritten Manuscript . ' . 183 

3. Preparing the Manuscript 185 

Chapter XV — ^How Manuscripts are Marketed 190 

1. Four Ways of Marketing 190 

2. How to Study Markets 195 

J. Utilizing Market Knowledge . . . .198 

4. The Best Practice in Marketing .... 202 

APPENDICES 

Appendix A — Digest of the Principles oe Prose 

Writing 209 

Appendix B — Points for Self-Criticism in Fic- 
tion Writing 223 

Appendix C — Discriminations in the Use of 

Words ■ . 225 

Appendix D — A Short Reading List . . . 240 

General Index 245 



Why This Book? 

A FOREWORD 

J The population of the United States consists of one 

hundred millions, most of whom seem to be ambitious to 
write. I would not willingly add to this host, yet to those 
who have some prospect of success I should like to extend 
a hand of help. 

Of the countless would-be writers, by far the greater 
number fail because they have nothing to say; for them 
there is no course but to fill up their lives with things worth 
while. A much smaller mmaber do not succeed because, 
though they know various things that would be of service 
and interest to their fellows, they take up their pens 
blindly — they know little of the forms acceptable to the 
magazines, and less of how to learn how. All such need 
a guide. 

In this volume may be found analyses of the various 
kinds of material that editors are constantly buying, 
together with such examples as could be included in a 
work of this size. The several tables showing the favorite 
lengths of magazine material and the themes most in 
vogue, are all authoritative, having been made up from 
first-hand information contributed for this work by the 
editors of our most broadly-read magazines, and from a 
careful examination of hundreds of issues covering a wide 
range of current periodicals. If these tables are studied 
in connection with such magazines as may be available to 
the ambitious writer they should prove valuable guides. 



Xrv WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Material of this sort appears never to have been published 
before. 

No attempt has been made to evolve a set technique 
for any of the various forms of magazine material herein 
treated — the effort has been to set down clearly and 
accurately the results of long experience, and such dis- 
criminating observation as the author possesses, leaving 
each reader to choose the materials and the methods best 
suited to his own resources and preferences. In other 
words, the advice on questions of theme, treatment, form 
and marketing is intended to be suggestive and not 
arbitrary, and it is particularly hoped that in the several 
digests of principles of the various prose, dramatic and 
verse forms treated, the growing guild of pen-workers will 
find many helps which will save time and labor, and the 
disappointment which is inevitably consequent upon 
unguided or misdirected effort. 

The magazines today use an amazing amount of mate- 
rial, and those who are chosen to furnish it are they who 
make an intelligent and persistent study of what is called 
for, how it is conceived and worked out, and how and where 
it is offered for sale. Magazine writing, it must constantly 
be reiterated, is both an art and a craft. This volume is 
offered in a friendly spirit to all writers who need help 
in either the one or the other phase of authorship. 

J. Berg Esenwein. 
Springfield, Mass., 
July I, 1916. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 
OF JOURNALISM AND ENGLISH 

Like several other volumes in The Writer's Library, 
this book covers a subject not heretofore treated, except in 
a fragmentary way, by any other author. It will be f oimd 
impressive in grasp and peculiarly practical in method. 
Every line is written with the authority of experience and 
a deep-seated wish to help. 

It is believed that the progressive arrangement of the 
chapters will make this as ideal a textbook as the other 
volumes in the author's series have proved to be through- 
out the United States, Canada and England. No student, 
and certainly no teacher, would plan for a complete course 
in every type of magazine writing, based on a single text, 
so it is suggested that at the outstart a progressive study 
be taken up, leading from the shorter to the longer prose 
forms. Those students who show aptitude for verse, 
fiction or dramatics should then choose their favorite of 
these three literary types and devote to it as much time 
as may be available. More complete treatises on the 
short-story, poetics and versification, and play writing 
are already available, either from the pen of, or edited by, 
Dr, Esenwein, and done in the same spirit that informs 
this volume, so that there is plenty of help for those who 
are able to go beyond the simpler prose forms of magazine 
writing. 

Particular attention is called to the valuable tables 
contained in this book. Students should be encouraged 



XVI WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

to follow these and similar lines in personal intensive 
research — the results will be illuminating. Let the student 
supplement the notes of the text by going directly to the 
magazines, great and small. 

The large number and wide variety of questions and 
exercises appended to most of the chapters are so arranged 
that either a student- writer who is working alone or a 
teacher who is directing a class may find it easy to select 
questions perfectly adapted to individual needs. It is 
not suggested that all the questions be used. Nor should 
all questions be made the basis for written work — a num- 
ber of thought-provoking queries have been added for 
either meditation or impromptu class work. 

The most practical teaching of journalism, obviously, 
is that which leads to publication, though it is equally 
obvious that not all pupils in their student days will attain 
this result. This book offers the first and only solution of 
this difficult problem by definitely showing the pupil at 
the very outstart how easy it is to get into the magazines 
in a small way if one will only follow instruction. The 
small markets, and even the large markets for small items, 
are wide open. It would seem to be a helpful adjunct to 
teaching to encourage the pupil to enter, though with no 
more than a paragraph in his hand. 

The Publishers. 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



CHAPTER I 

THE MAGAZINE AND THE NEWSPAPER 

Since the first requisite for writing successfully for a 
given periodical is to grasp its nature, aims and limitations, 
it seems necessary at the outstart to make two inquiries: 
What is the history of the magazine, and what, precisely, 
is its nature, as a distinct literary product? 

I. Origin of the Magazine 

Regarding the origin of the magazine, doctors do not 
agree. It grew out of the newspaper, but just how dif- 
ferent from the newspaper must a new periodical be before 
it may fairly be called a new literary form? Yet if we take 
into account the purpose and character of this innovation, 
it would seem easy enough to determine when the magazine 
became a thing of individuality, even though it long con- 
tinued to purvey news to the public. Today, some maga- 
zines make a specialty of news — always, however, in the 
form of a simimary, or digest, printed in addition to real 
literary matter. Doubtless magazines and newspapers 
will always continue to cross each other's domains at 
certain points. 

In January, 1665, at Paris, Denis de Sallo, under the 
assumed name of the Sieur de Hedonville, first brought out 
the Journal des Savants, which — since both in purpose and 
in contents it forecasted the modern periodical — we may 



2 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

accept as the earliest of the magazines. Three years later, 
1668, the Giornale de' letterati was issued in Rome. In 
1 68 1 Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious was published in 
London. And in 1688 the Germans began a series of 
monthly periodicals under the general name of 
Monatsgesprache, which spread so rapidly in popularity 
that soon nearly every important German city had its 
own magazine, generally local in interest. All these 
periodicals showed marks of essential difference from the 
newspapers which had preceded them, so that within a 
period of twenty-three years the magazine as a new form 
was founded, if not established, in four great lands, though 
it was not until the eighteenth century that other countries 
imitated these originators. It is, however, with the history 
of the magazine in English that we are now concerned, and 
that only most briefly. 

When on May 21, 1709, appeared Joseph Addison's first 
contribution to The Tattler, which had been founded by 
Richard Steele, a new era of journalism dawned for the 
English-speaking world. Only seventeen tri- weekly issues 
had preceded this epochal number, and into each the ingen- 
ious Steele had put something of that literary quality which 
for so long was the essence of the true magazine. It was in 
The Tattler that Addison and Steele first printed their Essays 
— half fiction, half what they were named, and altogether 
delightful — and continued them in The Spectator which, as 
a daily, succeeded The Tattler. This fecund partnership 
was maintained down to the final issue of a third maga- 
zine, The Guardian, which disappeared in October, 17 13. 

In 1 73 1, Edward Cave started The Gentleman's Magazine 



THE MAGAZINE AND THE NEWSPAPER 3 

or Monthly Intelligencer y for which in 1740 Samuel Johnson 
became the parliamentary reporter, often writing the 
speeches in a style which astounded — not to say flattered — 
many law-making gentlemen who were innocent of such 
magniloquent periods. The preface to the first volume 
states that the editor's object was *'to give Monthly a 
View of all the Pieces of Wit, Humour, or Intelligence, 
daily offer'd to the Public in the News-Papers," and "to 
join therewith some other Matters of Use or Amusement 
that will be communicated to us." In addition to this he 
professed to record the ''most remarkable Transactions and 
Events, Foreign and Domestick," "the Births, Marriages, 
Deaths, Promotions, and Bankrupts," together with 
"Prices of Goods and Stock," "Bills of Mortality," and 
"a Register of Books." 

American magazine journalism made early contribution 
to the new movement. In 1741 — nine years, be it noted, 
before Dr. Samuel Johnson f oimded in London the ponder- 
ous Rambler, and seventeen years before the same pundit 
established The Idler — Benjamin Franklin issued in Phila- 
delphia the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle. 
It did not show all the marks of Dr. Franklin's later abihty 
and lived but six months. In the same year, 1741, Webbe 
founded the American Magazine, which was still less suc- 
cessful than Franklin's venture. In Boston, in 1743, The 
American Magazine and Historical Chronicle — which it 
will be noticed assxmaed a name compounded from those of 
its American predecessors — began a short life. In fact, 
for a long period American magazines shared with their 
EngHsh precursors the quality of being short-lived, until 



4 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

in 1 815 was founded The North American Review, which 
flourished, and has now entered upon the second century 
of an honored life. 

2. What is the Modern Magazine 
And How Does it Difer Typically from the Newspaper? 

To define is to limit, and when we begin to limit we must 
go carefully. We all know the sort of thing we mean by a 
newspaper, even with its magazine features, but though we 
readily recognize a magazine when we see one, it is not so 
easy to set up a definition of a magazine, unless — as we 
shall have to do — we make a very broad generalization. 

We have seen that in its earlier days the limits of the 
magazine were narrow as compared with its present scope. 
When it came to its t3^ical form, it was everywhere recog- 
nized as a literary miscellany, yet nowadays most magazines 
cannot be said to be literary, and the contents of the larger 
number, though not the most prominently before the public, 
are so highly speciaHzed as to be far from a miscellany. So 
the magazine has changed and bids fair to change still more. 

Even the slightest acquaintance with the periodicals 
named in the foregoing historical outline, added to a knowl- 
edge of present-day magazines, will show that one thing a 
magazine is not: it is not merely a newspaper. True, 
magazines like The Outlook and The Independent (weeklies) 
do contain, in addition to literary and other miscellany, a 
considerable body of news, but news treated in a highly 
specialized way; their province in those departments is 
not primarily to report but to interpret news. 



THE MAGAZINE AND THE NEWSPAPER 5 

Again, periodicals like The Literary Digest (weekly), 
Current Opinion, and The Review of Reviews (monthlies) 
are made up not so much of news as of digests of editorial 
opinions, reviews of current events, sahent passages from 
newspaper and magazine articles, comment on things of 
present literary and artistic interest, and all things sig- 
nificant in the industrial, commercial, political, economic, 
ethical, religious, intellectual and recreational life of the 
day. Such entirely original articles as they print are on 
themes growing out of the foregoing interests. Any depar- 
tures from this broad program are incidental and not 
typical. 

It is perhaps stretching the meaning of the term news, 
as applied to the newspaper, to extend it to information of 
what is going on in the world of engineering, music, 
medicine, or any other limited field, as printed regularly in 
certain magazines. Doubtless enough has been said to 
establish this broad distinction: News is primarily the 
business of the newspapers; the interpretation of news has 
become the function of a certain well-marked kind of 
magazine. 

(a) A magazine is a periodical — that is, it is issued at 
stated intervals, longer than one day. The fact that some 
newspapers are published two or three times a week, and 
still others weekly, would not justify their being classed as 
periodicals — usage has reserved the name for magazines. 

(b) A magazine is a definitely specialized publication^ 
whereas the average newspaper is such in only a remote 
sense. The Wall Street Journal (morning and evening, six 
days a week) is d, financial newspaper and therefore highly 



6 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

specialized, and a few other dailies here and there are 
equally so. In each of these, the general news features are 
subordinated to the special purpose of the publication, 
thus putting such papers in unique classes — therefore they 
will not serve as general standards. Of course, also, most 
dailies specialize in the news of their own cities, and in a 
lesser degree many great newspapers are specialized in the 
sense that their policies and hence their contents are 
molded to fit the real or supposed demands of a certain part 
of a territorial public. The Boston Transcript is not read 
generally by the same public that supports The Boston 
American, any more than The New York Evening World 
would regularly satisfy the readers of The New York Even- 
ing Post. 

But in a different sense from the foregoing a magazine is 
definitely specialized. It does, of course, aim to interest 
the general public and in a few instances succeeds to the 
extent that upwards of two million copies of each of several 
magazines are sold monthly; still, the most popular of, 
these magazines limits its appeal not at all to a locality, and 
scarcely at all to a class of readers, but almost entirely to 
certain sides of human nature everywhere, as we shall see„. 
presently. It is therefore in its table of contents broadly 
similar month after month, and hence patterned to fit a 
highly specialized conception of what people want, that the 
magazine differs from the newspapers. In other words, the 
magazine specializes in certain definite interests, which it 
aims to satisfy better than any other publication. 

(c) Greater permanency enters into the idea of a magazine 
than is the case with the newspapers. Rarely is this 



THE MAGAZINE AND THE NEWSPAPER 7 

permanency absolute nowadays, as when our fathers 
religiously saved and bound the numbers of "their" 
magazine, still, a much greater permanency is attained 
than is aimed at by the daily paper. True, not a few news- 
papers are better worth preserving than many magazines, 
yet in even the more ephemeral weekly and monthly 
periodicals may be found serialized novels, short-stories 
and essays which eventually make their way into the realm 
of real or so-called literature. This used also to be true of 
the newspaper page, but now for the most part the fiction 
appearing there is reprinted from magazines and books, 
usually by arrangement with some syndicate. 
/ (d) The magazine is aimed at a mood of leisure, while the 
/ newspaper is to be read rapidly, so far as it does not enter 
Xthe field of the magazine. For this reason the well-con- 
ducted magazine is prepared to satisfy a more critical eye, 
both in form and in matter, than is any but the very 
exceptional newspaper. Its fiction is longer, or comes in 
longer installments, its articles are more thoroughgoing, 
its whole appearance and contents more sustained and 
finished. 

This leads to the final distinction which we shall ven- 
ture, though still others, of less obviousness, might be sug- 
gested: 

(e) The form of the magazine is distinctive. This is not 
merely a matter of custom but grows out of several of the 
discriminations which have just been attempted — as will 
need no further discussion. 

In defining the magazine, then, only general character- 
istics may be named, not only because magazines differ so 



8 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

widely in general but for the reason already mentioned 
that of late years so many magazine features have been 
made a regular part of the daily paper and, by the same 
token, so many newspaper characteristics have crept into 
the magazines. 

A magazine is a periodical publication j primarily hound in 
paper, specialized in both its characteristic and miscellaneous 
contents so as to satisfy certain definite interests, and designed 
for a mood of comparative leisure. 

It will be interesting to note how these characteristics 
of the magazine are approached, and sometimes met, by 
special numbers, or sections, of the daily paper, as the Sun- 
day edition. Not only such syndicated publications as 
Every Week, and others similar, but the ''magazine page" 
of the daily issue, imitate the typical magazine in contents, 
if not in appearance. The writer for the magazines cannot 
afford to overlook this tremendous market for his pen-work 
even though much of the field is covered by syndicate 
arrangement. 



CHAPTER II 

KINDS OF MAGAZINES 

It could arouse little more than an academic interest to 
present a classification of magazines even measurably 
exact in its grouping or fully inclusive in scope. It must 
be understood that nothing of the sort is intended by this 
chapter. Magazines come and go, merge and change, 
with such bewildering suddenness that even the following 
short list is sure to be misrepresentative in at least some 
details by the time it is put into type. The real purpose 
of this list is to arouse an interest in the little-known maga- 
zines as markets for material, and thereby to show intend- 
ing contributors that, as multifarious as are human pur- 
suits, so widely diversified are the periodicals meant to 
match them. 

Several further words of caution are necessary. It has 
not been possible to compile a representative list of 
periodicals covering so broad a range of interests and yet 
include only such as both accept and pay for contributed 
material. For this reason the accompanying survey must 
not be regarded as a list of markets. Before sending mate- 
rial to those magazines which are evidently either of small 
circulation or highly specialized in character it would be 
well to examine one or two copies, or else ask the editor 
briefly if unsolicited material is desired, and paid for if 
available. A stamped, addressed return envelope usually 
brings reply. Further, you must remember that many 



lO WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

magazines are physically little more than a few stitched 
leaves, so do not be misled into expecting too much from 
the unknown. 

It will be noticed that only one periodical is named as 
an example of each kind. This implies no judgment on my 
part that that magazine is of better grade than others not 
mentioned. Each is listed arbitrarily and solely as an 
example of a class. Had I found it possible to study care- 
fully each of the periodicals published in the interest of — 
let us say for instance — manufactures and trades, and 
also all the magazines of every other class, the total selec- 
tion doubtless would have been more representative — 
though not more permanently useful, in view of the fre- 
quent changes in magazinedom. 

Finally, it must be obvious that most magazines use 
material outside the scope indicated by their names. 
Therefore I say again, see as many copies of as many 
kinds of magazines as you can. Somewhere, in a sur- 
prising number of those magazines that buy material at 
all, will be found the sort of thing you yourself are able to 
write — if you are a flexible writer and willing to begin in a 
small way 

VARIOUS TYPES OF MAGAZINES 

Note that some of the following magazines touch inter- 
ests not indicated in the broad classifications — for exam- 
ple, a recreation periodical may include the business side 
of recreation. The periodicals are published monthly 
unless otherwise indicated. 



KINDS OF MAGAZINES II 

Miscellanies 

Literary: Atlantic Monthly, Boston, Mass. 

Popular : Munsey, New York 

Literary and Current Events: Outlook (weekly), 

New York 
Popular and Current Events: Collier's (weekly). 

New York 
Popular Information : Popular Science Monthly, New 

York 

Reviews 

General: North American Review, New York 
General, and Interpretations of Current Affairs : 

Current Opinion, New York 
Digests of Newspapers and Periodicals: Literary 

Digest (weekly). New York 
Specialized: Manhattan Review, New York 
(See also other headings.) 

Literary 

General: Bookman, New York 

Special Forms: Poetry Journal, Boston, Mass. 

Writers in General: Writer^ s Monthl'^ Springfield, 

Mass. " 

Special Forms of Authorship : The Dramatist, Easton, 

Pa. 
Libraries : Public Libraries, Chicago 
Commercial: Publisher and Retailer, New York 

Fiction 

Ainslee's, New York \ 



12 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Humor and Satire 

Life, New York 

Art 

General: International Sttidio, New York 
Educational: School Arts Book, Boston, Mass. 
Special Forms: Keramic Studio, Syracuse, N. Y. 

Music 

General: Etude, Philadelphia 

Trades: Music Trades (weekly), New York 

Special Forms : Piano Magazine, Chicago 

Education 

Eepresenting Particular Schools: Princeton Picto- 
rial Review (fortnightly), Princeton, N. J. 

General: American Education, Albany, N. Y. 

Administration: American School Board Journal, 
Milwaukee, Wis. 

Particularized Principles: Journal of Educational 
Psychology, Baltimore, Md. 

Special Grades: American Primary Teacher, Boston, 
Mass. 

Vocational: Manual Training Magazine, Peoria, 111. 

Special Branches : Modern Language Notes, Baltimore, 
Md. 

Sectional: Pennsylvania School Journal, Lancaster, Pa. 

Denominational: Catholic School Journal, Milwaukee, 
Wis. 

Professional and Technical 

Reviews: Engineering Review, New York 



KINDS OF MAGAZINES 1 3 

General: Army and Navy Journal (weekly), New York 
Specialties: Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 

New York 
Particular Schools: Osteopathic Physician, Chicago 

Vocations 

Nursing: Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, New 
York 

Avocations 

Amateur Photography: Amateur Photographer'' s 
Weekly, Cleveland, Ohio 

Farming and Allied Occupations 

General: Country Gentleman, Philadelphia 
Particular Forms: American Fruits, Rochester, N. Y. 
Special Crops: Modern Sugar Planter (weekly). New 

Orleans, La. 
Floriculture: Florists^ Exchange, New York 
Stock Raising, General: Breeders^ Gazette, Chicago 
Stock Raising, Special: American Sheep Breeder and 

Grower, New York 
Poultry: American Poultry Journal, Chicago 
Pigeons: Pigeon News (semi-monthly), Boston, Mass. 
Bees: Gleanings in Bee Culture (semi-monthly), 

Medina, Ohio 
Dairy: Hoard'' s Dairyman (weekly), Ft. Atkinson, Wis. 
Irrigation: Irrigation Age, Chicago 
Forestry: American Forestry, Washington, D. C. 

Manufactures and Trades 

General: Manufacturers' Record, Baltimore, Md. 



14 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Special Line: Acetylene Journal, Chicago 
Particular Branch of a Special Line: Accessory 
and Garage Journal (semi-monthly), Pawtucket, R. I. 

Commerce 
The General Field: World's Work, New York 
Corporation: International Railway Journal, Phila- 
delphia 
Exporting: American Exporter ^ New York 
Wholesaling: Rock Products and Building Material, 

Chicago 
Retailing: Hardware Dealers'* Magazine, New York 
Salesmanship: Salesman, San Francisco 
Special Phases of Business: Judicious Advertising, 
Chicago 
"^ Mail Order: Agents and Mail Order Dealers Magazine 
(bi-monthly), Chicago 
Cooperation: Cooperation, Minneapolis, Minn. 
Finance: American Economist (weekly). New York 
House Organs : Hoggson's Magazine, New York 
Methods of Efficiency: System, Chicago 

Various Occupations 

Chef and Steward, Chicago 

Health and Recreation 

Health: Good Health, Battle Creek, Mich. 
Physical Development: Physical Culture, New York 
Outdoor Life and Sports : Outing, New York 
Particular Outdoor Sports : Baseball Magazine, New 
York 



KINDS OF MAGAZINES 1$ 

Hunting, Fishing and Forest Life : Field and Stream^ 

New York 
Motoring: Motor ^ New York 
Boating: The Rudder, New York 
Horsemanship: Rider and Driver, New York 
Aeronautics: Aircraft, "^fw York. 
Indoor Games, Physical: Bowler^ s Journal (weekly), 

New York 
Indoor Games, Intellectual: Chess Forum, New 

York 
Indoor Recreations: Philatelic West and Post Card 

Collector's World, Superior, Neb. 
Pets: Dogdom, Battle Creek, Mich. 
Drama: Theatre Magazine, New York 
Photoplay: Moving Picture World, New York 
Lyceum: Lyceum World, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Religious and Ethical 

Clerical: Homiletic Review, New York 

Popular, Undenominational: Christian Herald 
(weekly). New York 

Denominational: The Catholic World (weekly), New 
York 

Special Causes: Union Signal (Temperance — W. C. 
T. U., weekly), Chicago 

International Organizations, Men: Association 
Men (Y. M. C. A.), New York 

International Organizations, Young People, In- 
terdenominational: Christian Endeavor World 
(Y. P. S. C. E., weekly), Boston, Mass. 



1 6 . WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Young People, Denominational: Epworth Herald 
(Methodist Episcopal, weekly), Chicago 

Juvenile, Denominational: The Comrade (Presby- 
terian, weekly), Philadelphia 

Juvenile, Boys, Undenominational: Boys World 
(weekly), Elgin, 111. 

Juvenile, Girls, Undenominational: GirVs Com- 
panion (weekly), Elgin, 111. 

Juvenile, Boys, Denominational: Youth's World 
(Baptist, weekly), Philadelphia 

Juvenile, Girls, Denominational: GirVs World 
(Baptist, weekly), Philadelphia 

Cults, Causes and Organizations 

Cults: New Thought — Nautilus, Holyoke, Mass. 

Secret Fraternities: F. and A. M. — Masonic Home 
Journal (semi-monthly), Louisville, Ky. 

Philanthropic: American Red Cross Magazine, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Humanitarian Causes: Our Dumb Animals (S. P. 
C. A.), Boston, Mass. 

Restricted Classes: Volta Review (for the deaf), 
Washington, D. C. 

Labor, General: Trades Union News (weekly), 
Philadelphia 

Labor, Special Classes: United Mine Workers^ 
Journal (weekly), Indianapolis, Ind. 

Political: SociaUsm — The Masses, New York 

Nationalistic: National Hibernian , Washington, D. C. 

Racial: Red Man, Carlisle, Pa. 



\/ 



KINDS OF MAGAZINES VJ 

Woman and the Home 

General : B-ome and. Country^ Cincinnati, Ohio 
Motherhood : Mother^ s Magazine ^ Elgin, 111. 
Home Making : Good Housekeeping, New York 
Hygiene and Sanitation: The Healthy Home, Athol, 

Mass. 
Cooking: American Cookery, Boston, Mass. 
Home Occupations: Home Needlework Magazine, 

Boston, Mass. 
Dress and Fashions : Vogue, New York 
Business : Business Woman^s Magazine, Newburg, N. Y. 

Occupations: Millinery Trade Review, New York 

Club Life: American Clubwoman, New York 
Political Life : The Woman Voter, New York 
Country Life: Country Life in America, Garden City, 

L. L, N. Y. 

Youth and Childhood 

Youth: St, Nicholas, New York 
Boys: American Boy, Detroit, Mich. 
Boys, Special Field: Boys^ Life (Boy Scouts' Maga- 
zine), New York 
Small Children: Little Folks, Salem, Mass. 
Babies : Baby, Louisville, Ky. 

Sectional 

The West: Sunset Magazine, San Francisco, Cal. 
State: Arizona, Phoenix, Ariz. 

Miscellany 

Personalia: Town Topics, New York 



1 8 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Special Interests 

Study and Information: Journal of American History 
(quarterly), New York 

Propaganda: Liberal Advocate (anti-prohibition), Co- 
lumbus, Ohio 

Matrimonial: Cupid^s Columns (bi-monthly), St. 
Paul, Minn. 

Government: American Municipalities, Marshall- 
town, Iowa. 

Savings: American Building Association News, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio 



CHAPTER III 

KINDS OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 

In the chapter just preceding, the reason for resolving 
magazines into their kinds was made clear. The purpose 
of this short chapter is quite the same — to help the journal- 
ist see how wide is his field and to warn him that because 
it is wide he must shape each particular piece of writing to 
fill some special type of magazine need. 

The article that sprawls has but a meagre chance of 
acceptance. In general magazine matter, much more than 
in fictional material, the purpose and nature of the com- 
position must be definitely planned beforehand. A school 
boy may set out to write a composition without having first 
determined whether it is to be of a definite type, and yet 
pass the test, for the literary standards of the lower schools 
cannot be exacting, but not so with the magazine journal- 
ist. He must aim, if he would hit the mark at all — to say 
nothing of scoring a bull's eye. 

I. Clear-cut Purpose is Necessary 

It does not seem to enter the mind of the average writer 
that all successful magazine material is highly specialized. 
Whenever a really good article shows more than one type 
the author has so planned it. The travel article may be 
partly fictionized, as Miss Anne Wharton's and Mrs. 
Maude Howe ElHot's nearly always are, but not because 



20 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

the author started to write fiction and drifted into place- 
description, or contrariwise. With the utmost precision 
the magazine writer must know what he intends to do, 
what class of readers he purposes reaching, and what 
means he will use to gain the result. 

2. Knowledge of Varieties is Valuable 

I have used the word "valuable" because I mean that 
such knowledge has commercial value. To know what 
varieties of magazine material are used, where they are 
acceptable, what characteristics mark them, what style of 
English is typical in those forms, which kinds demand 
pictures, which do not, and what lengths are popular — 
these are questions which directly and vitally bear on the 
marketing of your material, and hence primarily affect its 
preparation and writing. Much good material is never 
sold because the writer has overlooked one or more of these 
considerations. It is futile to expand into a serious essay a 
point that demands merely one pungent paragraph, just as 
it is hopeless to try to sell an anecdote that has been padded 
out into a story. On the subject of studying markets more 
will be said later.^ 

J. Listing the Kinds of Magazine Material 

It is but natural for the beginner to limit the variety of 
his output by overlooking special and even obscure kinds 
of markets. A carefully kept note-book^ will prove a 

1 See Chapter XV. 

2 See Chapter IV, page 36. 



KINDS OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 21 

revelation, not only in opening your eyes to the minute 
but important differences between one sort of article and 
another, but in two other ways: in suggesting markets 
for hitherto unsalable ideas, and in recalling forgotten 
facts. 

In this and succeeding chapters attention is given to the 
broad types of magazine material, but you should re- 
member that under each are almost countless sub-varieties, 
one or many of which may open up to you lucrative fields. 
Make your list of types and sub-types as full as you pos- 
sibly can. 

Here let me repeat that the daily newspaper must not be 
forgotten when we consider magazine material. As we 
have seen, many odd corners of the newspapers contain 
magazine matter, as well as the so-called magazine pages. 
True, much of this "stuff" is clipped, with or without 
credit, but all such items originated somewhere, therefore 
you will find it profitable to hunt out the markets — 
marketing is a prime essential for the journalist; too much 
care cannot be given to the study. 

4. Versatility is Essential 

Most yoimg writers make the mistake of specializing 
too early — they begin to build their house at the roof- 
tree. 

Upon reflection we shall see that specializing is of two 
kinds : we may specialize in the sense of limiting our output 
to a particular kind of writing. Without doubt this leads 
at last to the highest eflSciency, but it is not a safe practice 



22 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

for the tyro. The other sort of specializing is one of idea. 
In it the writer narrows his immediate subject to a definite 
phase of a broad question, and then does the same when he 
takes up another subject, which is likely to be in an entirely 
different field. This sort of intensive work in an extensive 
field furnishes facility, and a broader chance of acceptances 
— which are the staff of life. 

It may be plain, then, that the abihty to write with 
. / special knowledge on a large variety of interesting subjects 

\ is the foundation of journalistic success. It will be time 
enough for you to limit your thought to one field when you 
have won a hearing for yourself in many minor ways. 
There is no harm, and much good, in having a specialty in 
which you are perfecting yourself all the while you are gain- 
ing a variety of outlets for your pen-work; indeed, most 
successful journalists have followed this course; but it is 
certainly unwise to neglect the slightest decent chance to 
get into print. Be alert to open every door, though it lead 
only to the sale of a jingle, a jest, or the report of a domestic 
discovery. In this way you will learn where magazine 
editors hang their keys, and win a sympathetic reading for 
your larger efforts later. 

To be sure, we must all recognize our limitations. It 
would be folly to insist, for the mere sake of variety, on 
making ourselves write the sorts of stuff for which we are 
totally unfitted by equipment, opportunity and interest. 
There are plenty of openings without committing this 
absurdity. Let a sense of fitness dictate what types of 
writing you essay, yet do not hesitate because either the 
field or the present reward seems negligible. 



KENDS OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 23 

5. Devising New Kinds of Material 

The welcome caller is the one who enters an editor's 
office with a workable new idea. Many chances to one, he 
will be given an opportunity to demonstrate its merit by 
submitting at least one finished article. Now and then an 
editor will suggest an idea for a series of shorter or longer 
articles to a staff writer, or to some outside writer whose 
work is known; occasionally he will give an out-and-out 
assignment to a prominent writer to do one or more articles 
of a given kind; but really most of the ideas for fresh t37pes 
of magazine material are brought to the editor by a member 
of his staff or sent by some outside writer, whether green or 
seasoned. 

t should be obvious that this search for fresh ideas is the 
gist of journalism. It must be equally plain that with such 
an idea one's chances of success are largely increased.^ 

Many times an alert journalist will seize upon an idea 
which has been used once or twice and then discarded. He 
will expand the idea into a series, submit a few specimens, 
and receive an order for a given number. Study the 
variety of material printed everywhere serially by Albert 
Payson Terhune and Frederic J. Haskin — all is magazine 
material, in the sense that it is neither news matter nor 
editorial, and all is evidence of how a single fresh idea, or an 
old idea popularized, may be submitted with good chances 
of success if backed by enough abiUty to present the ideas 
tersely and readably. 

^ See Chapter XV for suggestions on how to bring ideas to the 
attention of the editor. 



24 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

The time-honored injunction of Sir Philip Sydney ap^. 
phes here as elsewhere: *'Look in thine heart and write.^ 
When you see a thing that interests you it will interest^ 
others. But if that were all, we should every one be sucr., 
cessful journalists. When the idea lays hold upon you, 
begin to question yourself. Questioning is the essence ol 
invention. Is the idea fresh? No. Who has worked it up 
before? Oh, many have. Is it quite worked out? Not at 
all, for one phase of it has been slurred over or overlooked 
entirely. Very well, there is your chancel 

But can that neglected phase of the subject be made 
interesting enough to swing an article, or even a series? 
Yes. Will one article be enough to exhaust interest? By 
no means. Then how long a series, and how many words — 
now you are planning in earnest, and you will not give up 
until the plan is roughed out, its weak points either cut out 
or strengthened, and the first article written. 

It was precisely in this way that a well-known series of 
health articles for popular magazines was conceived and 
sold. Baseball articles, household economics, styles of 
men's dress, social etiquette series, sermonettes, articles 
instructing in arts, crafts and sports — an untold variety 
of strictly magazine and newspaper-magazine material — 
have been so devised, and similar yet fresh ideas are in 
constant demand. The field is the world, with all its con- \ 
tents, seen and unseen. ^ 

6. Broad Classes of Material 
When you make your list of kinds of material, suppose 



KINDS OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 2$ 

you do SO under the following general divisions, and then, 
as has been suggested, under each add as many sub-kinds 
as you have observed or can invent. It will be seen at 
once that many magazine articles touch more than one of 
these divisions, but one type is certain to be predominant, 
thus placing the material decidedly in one class. 

(a) Anecdotes 

(b) Jests 

(c) Humorous and Satirical Sketches 

(d) Information-Items 

(e) Editorials and Interpretations 

(f) Travel and Outdoors Articles 

f{g) Articles of Methods and Information 
_-X(h) Inspirational and Human-Interest Articles 
--^Qi) Essays and Discussions 

(j) Criticisms and Reviews 

(k) Poetry and Verse 

(1) Fiction and Drama 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. What do you understand by an article that 
"sprawls?" 

2. Try to find a magazine contribution that is 
weakened by not aiming at one definite effect. 

3. Point out how it could have been bettered. 

4. If the article is a short one, revise it. 

5. Give an example of magazine material that effectively 
touches more than one type. 



26 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

6. Which type predominates? 

7. May a writer hurt his work by rigidly conforming 
his material to one type? 

8. Mark in a newspaper those articles which may be 
classed as magazine material. Do not include editorials, 
paragraphs, jests, or verse. 

9. What are the dangers of early specialization in 
writing? 

10. What are the benefits? 

11. Try to suggest a fresh idea for a magazine article 
on a subject with which you are familiar or on which you 
know where to get fresh material. 

12. Suggest the manner of treatment, length, and t3rpe 
of magazine into which you think it would fit. 

13. Select from any periodical an article which contains 
an idea for a series. 

14. Apply the method of questioning given on page 24. 

15. Rough out the series, but, as yet, do not write in 
full. 

16. Add any general classes you can to the tentative 
list given on page 25. 

17. Add all the sub-classes possible under each. 

18. Begin a large note-book, or a card index, allowing 
plenty of space to each class and sub-class "of magazine 
material so that theme-suggestions may be inserted from 
time to time. Give special space to those subjects and 
kinds of material that interest you most. This subject 
will be expanded in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 

Until we are confronted by the problem of finding many 
different things to write about, and each fresh enough to 
command a market, it is well enough to wait for ideas to 
suggest themselves, but earlier or later we find that themes 
do not pop into mind with regularity enough, and when 
they do come are not of sufficiently general interest to 
meet our needs. Then there remains only one thing to 
do — we must put ourselves in the way of getting fresh ideas. 
If we set about this intelUgently it will prove to be not a 
difficult matter. It is, however, far removed from the 
peaceful practice of twiddHng the thumbs. 

I. The Specific Sources of Material 

[a) Experience is the first and most important spring of 
ideas. Unless we drink from its refreshing waters the 
^■-mind becomes jaded and refuses to invent. 

But how shall we gain experience? If we can afford to 
wait, it will come; but most of us find that when ex- 
perience does not visit us we must scrape acquaintance. 
"Down among men," not secluded in a book-lined study, 
life moves with color and deep breath. Where men plan 
and battle and scheme and suffer and fail and achieve, 
experience has her haunts. 

This is not to say that the life of ordinary duties does not 



28 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

furnish experiences worth recording, even adventures the 
// most thrilHng. It does; but the magazine writer must be 
,; something of a dramatist, and train himself to see in the 
commonplace those hinge-situations which are big with 
meaning to those who read his words. We must come to 
see in our lives what that great American maker of plays 
who went down with the Lusitania cheerfully said that he 
saw in death, ''a beautiful adventure." Mary E. Wilkins 
Freeman found in the quiet of New England village life 
plenty of rich material. 

.--To use experience in journalism is to capitalize self — 
: and others. It is to probe among men and things till we 
find the hidden nerve ganglia which are the sources of 
significant action; it is to gather and compare, to weigh 
and contrast, until the truly vital facts of what we see are 
understood. By our own experiences we learn to know 
others. With all your getting, get experience — then store 
and use it. 

The most sheltered lives have known literatesque ex- 
periences and may gain more. Question yourself: What 
/ have I seen? Where have I been? What have I been? 
What have I felt? What have I done? What have I 
heard? Whom have I known? The past, the present, the 
possible future — no one can lack experience who draws a 
conscious breath. 

Experience may come, or be invited, in ways common or 
uncommon. You may throw away your street car ticket — 
a sort of receipt check — as Mark Twain did fifteen times in 
Berlin; or go out without a dollar to earn a living after the 
manner of Professor Wyckoff , of Princeton, and so give the 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 29 

world another volume like ^'The Workers;" or work in a 
southern cotton mill like Marie Van Vorst; or cruise the 
oceans in a little boat like Jack London; or shoot the 
rapids on a raft that is sure to be wrecked as did Caroline 
Lockhart;(or just dig to the bottom of the one subject that 
interests you — anyhow, in the most prudent or the most 
daring how, only somehow, live, and you will have opened 
the great mine of material. Your next holiday, your next 
vacation, even your next day's work will open up some- 
thing worth while. What you will, you can. ■^" 

(b) Observation is the second source-spring of material, 
and it really is a part of what we have just been con- 
sidering — Experience. To observe means less to look at 
things than to look into them. An owl does the one; a 
scientist the other. Think of the suggestions to be found 
merely in the guide book to any great city. Look. Look 
often. Look long. Look accurately. Look understand- 
ingly. Look with the purpose of writing. Never say there 
is nothing new to write of so long as you have one eye left. 
And when that is gone there still remains the greater eye 
of the mind. 

(c) Thought and Reflection should be coupled as sources 
of material. After we have thought ourselves into and 
around a subject — and remember that to think means to 
see a thing as it is, to weigh it in its relations, and to formu- 
late a statement or a conclusion concerning it — we must 
give ourselves over to reflection. This process of re-imag- 
ing ideas — which are the raw materials of thought — is a 
sort of filtration. Train yourself to do this and the clear 
waters will be worth bottling for public consumption. - 



30 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Most thought-reflection comes short of being valuable 
because it stops with a single phase of a subject, or at most 
with an unrelated number of such phases. But the suc- 
cessful writer persists in thought on one line until he has a 
tested chain. This is consecutive thinking — one tried link 
is welded to another until the series is sound and complete; 
it is the only thinking that is likely to produce material fit 
to print. However light and airy may be your literary 
purpose — for a chain may be of gossamer or fit to stay a 
super-dreadnought — still must your thinking form a chain, 
with each link sound, set unobtrusively in its place, and all 
making up an adequate whole. " Information consists of a 
fact, or a group of facts; knowledge is organized infor- 
mation—knowledge knows a fact in relation to other 
facts." ' 

(d) Imagination is an expansion of reflection. Yet it is 
a thing most vital. In the conduct of armies, in playing a 
game, in planning a business, in conceiving an article, in 
composing a sonnet, imagination is a prime factor. "The 
human race," declared Napoleon, "is governed by its 
imagination."^ 

./ Imagination — by which we mean both the faculty and 
the process of making mental images — is either reproduc- 
tive or productive. By the one we recall what we have 
once seen or imaged; by the other we invent, with such 
material as our beings possess. No faculty of the writer is 

1 The Art of Public Speaking. 

2 For a fuller treatment of Imagination, see the chapter entitled 
"Riding the Winged Horse," in The Art of Public Speaking, by 
J. Berg Esenwein and Dale Carnagey, published uniform with 
this volume in "The Writer's Library." 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 3 1 

more closely related to his success, and none, therefore, is 
better worth cultivating. 

(e) Conversation. I was once closely associated with a 
well-known college president who constantly educated him- 
self by asking questions. He was a good-hearted vampire. 
Upon every specialist who came within reach he fastened 
his eye, and began to question. The range of that man's 
practical knowledge was amazing. In consequence, his 
chapel talks day by day were packed with the most 
fascinating up-to-the-moment information of what worth- 
while men were doing and thinking in a thousand fields. 
What a writer he would have made, had he not chosen the 
task of training men more directly! 

The secret of the reporter's power is not to frighten the 
birds. John Burroughs sits out in the woods near *' Slab- 
sides," his study, and moves not at all until the wild crea- 
tures come and twitter to him their secrets. So must the 
interviewer get close to those whom he would cause to 
talk; so must you and I identify our interests with those 
whose knowledge we would tap for material. But this 
interest can no more be feigned than Mr. Burroughs could 
pretend to be harmless among the wild folk. Human 
lives have marvelous things to disclose, but they are not 
likely to reveal them to one whose curiosity outsteps his 
sympathy. 

(f) Reading is a great yet often a dangerous source of 
magazine material, because so few are willing to make it 
merely complementary to, instead of the substance of, 
Vvhat they write. The writer should use books for three 
purposes only: First, to feed his whole life of thought, feel- 



32 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

ing, and pleasure; second, to inform himself; third, to 
stimulate his invention. 

The first two purposes have been treated by a thousand 
advisers; the last needs a word or two here. 

It is unsafe to read merely to accept. In the process of 
testing the statements of an author, we think. Read 
Ruskin, for example, or Carlyle, or Emerson, and you are 
helped more by what you are able to deny than by what 
you can quickly affirm. Let a great writer once arouse 
you to protest and you have won to something golden — 
a thought of your own. But — read not only to deny. 

" Unsuspected treasures lie in the smallest library. Even 
when the owner has read every last page of his books it is 
only in rare instances that he has full indexes to all of them, 
either in his mind or on paper, so as to make available the 
vast number of varied subjects touched upon or treated in 
volumes whose titles would never suggest such topics. 

"For this reason it is a good thing to take an odd hour 
now and then to browse. Take down one volume after 
another and look over its table of contents and its index. 
(It is a reproach to any author of a serious book not to 
have provided a full index, with cross references.) Then 
glance over the pages, making notes, mental or physical, of 
material that looks interesting and usable. Most libraries 
contain volumes that the owner is 'going to read some 
day.' A familiarity with even the contents of such books 
on your own shelves will enable you to refer to them when 
you want help. Writings read long ago should be treated 
in the same way — in every chapter some surprise lurks to 
delight you. 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 33 

"In looking up a subject do not be discouraged if you 
do not find it indexed or outlined in the table of contents — 
you are sure to discover some material under a related 
title. 

^'Suppose you set to work somewhat in this way to 
gather references on 'Thinking' : First you look over your 
book titles, and there is Schaeffer's Thinking and Learning 
to Think.' Near it is Kramer's 'Talks to Students on the 
Art of Study' — that seems likely to provide some material, 
and it does. Naturally you think next of your book on 
psychology, and there is help there. If you have a volume 
on the human intellect you will have already turned to it. 
Suddenly you remember your encyclopedia and your 
dictionary of quotations — and now material fairly rains 
upon you; theproblem is what not to use. In the encyclo- 
pedia you turn to every reference that includes or touches 
or even suggests 'Thinking;' and in the dictionary of 
quotations you do the same. The latter volume you find 
peculiarly helpful because it suggests several volumes to 
you that are on your own shelves — you never would have 
thought to look in them for references on this subject. 
Even fiction mil supply help, but especially books of 
essays and biography. Be aware of your own resources. 

"To make a general index to your library does away 
with the necessity for indexing individual volumes that 
are not already indexed." ^ It will literally multiply the 
value of your library. How this may be done is explained 
on page 39. 

There is one sort of book that especially awakens ideas — 

^ The A rt of Public Speaking. 



34 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

the curious, old, out-of-the-way volume containing facts 
which start you to thinking. The library of every man of 
letters contains a number of such interesting books. For 
years he may have been promising himself to write an 
article on the origin of names — the idea came from an 
obscure book by Charlotte M. Yonge. 

Then, a youth's magazine might gladly accept some 
stories of the ant-folk — Dr. McCook knew all about them 
and put his knowledge into a little-known volimie. Here 
now is a book on mediaeval armament which is full of 
suggestions for a feature article comparing the old with the 
modern, and showing the present astonishing revival of 
old means of defense and offense. 

The second-hand book stalls and the city libraries teem 
with magazine material which may be marketed if we are 
willing to add to our reading a final supreme source of 
information: 

(g) Research. When Miss Ida Tarbell was commis- 
sioned by Mr. S. S. McClure to write a life of Lincoln she 
was not content to read books — she went to original 
documents at home and abroad. Professor William 
Sloane's "Life of Napoleon" is authoritative because he 
dug and dug and dug again until he had unearthed what 
other less patient diggers had not reached. 

Some time ago an ambitious young lady came to me for 
help. She could write, but what should she write? 

''What do you know?" I asked. 

Ceramics, it appeared. But the market for such material 
did not seem to be wide. Presently she remarked that nowa- 
days it was not necessary to go to Europe for fine pottery — 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 35 

it was now ''made in America." So here was an idea. I 
told her to make a list of several similar things — conversa- 
tion with acquaintances soon expanded the number to 
about a dozen — which were now made in America. These 
she prepared carefully and in a bright, chatty way gave all 
the popular information she could gather on how the things 
were made; showed how America is preparing to do them 
better than ever before, and submitted the idea to the 
magazine section of a certain Sunday newspaper. The 
first article on pottery was satisfactory, and an order for 
the series was forthcoming. 

It is mere platitude to say that fields of this sort are un- 
ending. Look patiently and with an eye to popular in- 
terest until you find the field, dig into it imtil you are sure 
you have found facts which are not commonly known, 
vitalize those facts by connecting them with some human 
interest, dress the ideas in the most fascinating form you 
can, and you have an article. This first effort may not sell 
but if beneath your hat a writer walks, you will sell your 
material before long. 

Not the least valuable part of such research work is the 
by-product of information. The miner does not confine him- 
self to the main leads, but notes the side- veins and pockets — 
after a while he will possess himself of these treasures also, 
and at last he will even rob the pillars. A study of the tree 
may lead you to an article on the habits of the parasite. 
An article on paper may suggest an item on economy. 
Consideration of physical training methods may uncover a 
recipe for a home-made liniment. 



1 



36 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

2. Conserving Material 

The memory is an indispensable part of every writer's 
equipment, but some day it will surely develop a leak. 
Therefore early form 

(a) The Note-Book Habit. Strange as it may seem, 
many young writers do not know how to keep a note- 
book. Most writers are content with any style of blank 
book small enough to be convenient, but the more methodi- 
cal use the loose-leaf sort, both because any given section 
may be expanded indefinitely, thus giving assurance that 
the arrangement will never become disordered, and for the 
more important reason that individual leaves may be de- 
tached and filed in one of the ways presently to be explained. 

Suppose you attend a lecture and hear a striking state- 
ment. You may note it thus: 

In lecturing on "Aids to Memory" Professor Hart said that 
we forget >the things (a) to which we do not pay close attention, 
(b) which do not interest us, and (c) which are crowded out of 
our minds by more pressing matters. 

To this you may wish to add a reflection of your own, as: 

Why does association of ideas tend to intensify the original 
fact to be remembered instead of switching the memory to 
the lesser idea or fact? 

Or you may merely note a bit of information: 

Magazine Circulation 

Five American periodicals (1916) have reached a circulation 
of two millions each. 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 37 

To this you may want to add their names, circulations, 
and other data. 

Examine Hawthorne's "American Note-Book" to see 
how he set down plot-ideas for stories, names of charac- 
ters, details of their dress, chance phrases, bits of possible 
dialogue, and the like. Even if his book is not accessible 
to you, the practice is. 

{b) The Vest-Pocket Card. It is a good plan to carry in 
the pocket or the hand-bag a number of cards or papers 
perforated to fit the small loose-leaf note-book, or at least 
suitable for the card index. In this way ideas may be pre- 
vented from taking wing. 

(c) Filing Systems. The greatest weakness of the ordi- 
nary note-book is that once the idea is set down it is liable 
to be lost from lack of indexing. Various devices have 
been successfully used to overcome this difficulty, which 
inheres in the paste-in scrap book even more annoyingly 
than in the note-book, whose loose-leaf arrangement may 
be readily alphabetized. Yet, in either kind of book, cut- 
tings and notes soon become too bulky for inclusion in one 
small volume. Then the literary worker begins to con- 
sider a practicable filing system, and of these there are 
several of merit. Three, however, are worth describing 
here. 

(1) The Pocket System is a loose-leaf home-made 
scheme, and is made thus: In any cover designed to re- 
ceive loose leaves — preferably leaves of letter size (83^ x 
II inches) — fix any number of sheets of very heavy, tough 
paper of a surface unglazed and sufiiciently rough to take 



38 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

mucilage readily. These heavy sheets, of course, must be 
pierced so as to fit into the loose-leaf binder. 

Cut strips of strong but rather thin paper, such as a good 
bond, to a uniform size of seven by two and three-eighths 
(7x2^ inches) . Gum three edges — one long edge and the 
two shorter edges — of each strip to a width of about three- 
eighths of an inch, using a strong, permanent mucilage. 
Then paste the four strips of paper, one above the other — 
I do not mean on top of each other — on each large sheet or 
leaf, allowing the upper, ungimimed, edge of the horizontal 
strip to remain open. Be sure to place the strips within a 
fraction of an inch of the right-hand margin of the leaf, for 
the left margin will be perforated for binding; and do not 
place the top pocket too close to the upper margin. 

You now have made four pockets on each sheet, the in- 
side of each pocket being about two inches deep and about 
six inches wide. You may make two narrower pockets in- 
stead of one out of each strip by running a line of gum down 
the center of the strip, as it is fixed horizontally to the leaf. 

These pockets may be used as receptacles for cuttings or 
notes, and may be self-indexed by allowing the headings to 
protrude above the pocket, or the face of the pocket itself 
may be indexed with its contents. 

This is not a cheap system, by any means, and entails 
some trouble, unless you wish to pay someone to prepare 
the pockets for you, but it is a very handy scheme for filing. 

(2) The Envelope System consists of simply a set of 
small, tough envelopes filed alphabetically by guide cards, 
lettered on the exposed tab, and kept in a desk drawer, a 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 39 

box, or a filing cabinet. In these envelopes are kept both 
cuttings and notes, and the face of the envelope — written 
upon in the same direction as when one addresses a letter 
— serves to index its contents. 

Filed alphabetically in the same series as the envelopes 
may be cards, cut to the same size, on which notes and 
library references have been made. The method of making 
library references will be explained presently. 

Very large scrap collections are usually made in larger 
envelopes than are recommended for ordinary use. 

(3) The Card Index Rerum is a variation of the fore- 
going and has the advantage of compactness, though refer- 
ence is not so rapid. 

SocialisTTv 

On the card just illustrated, clippings are indexed by 
giving the numbers of the envelope in which they are filed. 
The envelopes may be of any size desired, or even of vary- 
ing size, as may be needed, and kept in any convenient 
receptacle. The essential thing is that each envelope 
must be nmnbered and kept in its numerical place. On 
the foregoing example, "Progress of S., Envelope i6," 



40 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

will represent a clipping, filed in Envelope i6, which of 
course has been numbered arbitrarily. 

The fractions on the card refer to books in your library — 
the numerator being the book-number, the denominator 
referring to the page. Thus, "S. a fallacy 2^%/' refers to 
page 2IO of volume 96 in your library. By some arbitrary 
sign — say by using red ink — you may index a reference to a 
public library book. 

If you preserve your magazines, important articles may 
be indexed by month and year. An entire volume on a 
subject may be indicated, like the (imaginary) book by 
"Forbes." If you clip the articles, it is better to index 
them by number, according to the envelope system you 
have adopted. 

Your own writings and notes may be filed in envelopes 
with the cuttings or in a separate series and indexed in the 
same way as the cuttings. 

When your cards accumulate so as to make ready ref- 
erence difiicult under a single alphabet, you may subdivide 
each letter by subordinate guide cards marked by the 
vowels, A, E, I, O, U. Thus. ''Antiquities" would be filed 
in A, under Ai^ because A begins the word, while the second 
letter of the word, n, comes after the vowel i in the alphabet 
yet before the next vowel, 0. In the same manner, 
"Beecher" would be filed under Be^ in B; and "Hydrogen" 
would come under Hu, in H. 

The cards referred to in "(2) The Envelope System" 
may, of course, be made to bear both notes and library 
references, or so may the faces of the envelopes. How- 
ever, it would seem that the better way is to use cards 



THE SOURCES OF MAGAZINE MATERIAL 4I 

or bits of stiff paper for notes and library references, and 
envelopes for cuttings, small pamphlets and manuscripts. 
Whether the envelopes should be filed numerically, with 
their numbers endorsed on the alphabetized cards for 
reference, or filed together with the cards in one alpha- 
betical arrangement, is solely a matter for personal 
choice. 

3. Using the Work of Others 

A single word of caution must be set down against poach- 
ing on anyone's preserves. Clip and note all you will, but 
fix in your mind the truth that by reading too much when 
you are collecting material, or by using facts almost ex- 
clusively garnered from note-books, you will strangle your 
own ability to invent. The writer who dares to use his own 
ideas may arrive more slowly than the ingenious but un- 
scrupulous imitator, but when he arrives he will remain, 
while the literary copyist — not to say thief — will be cast 
out. Use no material that you have not first made so 
thoroughly your own that it has been assimilated and made 
a part of your equipment. Then be sure to express it in 
your own words — or quote and give credit. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Set down as many subjects for articles as "pop into 
your head" in ten minutes. 

2. Mark those of which you are conscious of having 
thought before. 

3. Did you notice a tendency to think of too broad a 



42 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

subject to admit of satisfactory treatment in a single 
article? 

4. If so, select one such broad subject and narrow it 
until you have a specific subject. 

5. Name one kind of experience that seems to possess 
value as magazine material. -^^^7*^ lMf\f^^^^ 

6. Outline briefly how it might be treated. 

7. Can you think of any experience within your reach 
that you might try to gain for the purj)ose of gathering 
material? >Ki;tir ^ • ^ -fcH<H^ ^< '>^ M-^' 

8. What do you understand by ** capitalizing self?" 

9. Are there any obvious limits to which this might 
properly be done? 

10. Examine any city guide and suggest one or two 
themes for articles which occur to you. 

11. What do you think of an encyclopedia as a direct 
source of magazine material? " ■ 

12. Give your own definitions of (a) "thought/' (b) 
"consecutive thinking," (c) "reflection," (d) "imagina- 
tion." 

13. Get an interview with some person of attainments 
and outline an article from the interview. 

14. From recent reading, suggest a theme for an article. 

15. Suggest an interesting field for research, with 
magazine material in mind. 

16. Give a full outline of an article you would like to 
write, stating the sources of your material. 

17. Write the article. 

18. What is plagiarism? 



CHAPTER V 

INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 

Not all magazine writing is literary, either in purpose 
or in method, but a considerable body consists of highly 
condensed paragraphs of information and methods of 
work. 

The writer who is determined to gain experience and 
make his pen-work pay from the start will harbor no false 
shame but will at once give some attention to the markets 
Jor such paragraphic items. Whether these are to remain 
his chief, or perhaps only, means of getting into print will 
depend on ability plus push. How much energy he will 
take from larger work in order to devote it to such writing 
he must himself decide,. but at all events it is decidedly 
worth while to search out items for the markets and mar- 
kets for the items. Many departmental editors — not all of^ 
whom, by any means, are resident in the city of publication 
or devote their entire time to the work — have won their 
positions by showing ability to send in helpful and reliable 
paragraphs in sufficient numbers and frequently enough to 
attract the editor-in-chief. One must begin somewhere, 
and the first step is at the bottom of the stairs. Even if '\ 
you despise the occasional dollars — or, in some cases, 
subscriptions, merchandise, or advertising space — which 
may be offered as pay for paragraphic material, why con- 
temn the exercise in versatility that all such writing , 
affords? 



44 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

I. The Necessary Equipment 

' For writing paragraphic items (a) the prime requisite is 
interest in this kind of material. Examine all the domestic, 
agricultural, business, popular science, and other special- 
ized magazines you can. Note how many of them have 
departments made up chiefly or wholly of information- 
paragraphs, discoveries, short cuts, methods of work, and 
curious or interesting matters. If these interest you, you 
can furnish something on like Hues. Even when a depart- 
ment seems to be written entirely by a department editor 
and the paragraphs are not signed, remember that some of 
them are bought from contributors. Some such para- 
graphs, indeed, are pilfered from various sources and with 
slight rewriting appear under the department editor's 
name, but reliable periodicals do not encourage this sort of 
thing — there are real markets for your ideas, if you sift the 
grain. 

(b) An observing eye is also necessary — no amount of 
anxiety can atone for its lack. Alertness of mind is the 
discoverer's principal qualification. What one overlooks 
the other coins into legal tender. Observe not only the 
kinds of material used, but the facts and habits of life all 
around you. 

(c) A handy note-hook is the next thing needful — what is. 
recorded will not escape. 

(d) The habit of absolute accuracy is the final requisite. 
A mistake in the recipe, a slight mis-statement of fact, a 
name wrongly spelled, a conclusion based on too little data, 
the oversight of omitting one step in the process, will work 



INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 45 

annoyance or danger for someone. Your inaccuracy is 
likely to be reported, with the result that at least one door 
may be closed to the contributor whom the editor has re- 
lentlessly labeled *' unreliable." Feel your responsibility, 
and from the outstart spare no pains to establish the utter 
accuracy of the most trivial contribution. Aside from the 
matter of self-respect, you will be forming an invaluable 
Uterary habit. 

2, Where to Find Material 

It is everywhere, of course; but specifically where? The 
general sources of magazine material as previously outhned 
are of course the particular sources as well but you must 
approach them with this sort of writing definitely in mind. 

(a) Tap the veins of daily experience. Has not your own 
use of broom and butter and bed-linen taught you some 
unique economy of time or material? Does not the care of 
your automobile, the management of your office detail, 
your experience in farm or garden, the use of your clothes, 
a precaution, a remedy, a sales method, an accounting 
device, a fishing method, a church or a home entertainment, 
suggest something of value to others? Turn your eyes in- 
ward to see the what and the how that may prove helpful. 
If you know of no inmiediate market, store the idea in your 
note-book. The blind political economist of England, 
Fawcett, has defined capital as *' the result of saving laid up 
to assist future production." Be a capitalist. 

(b) Study the lives and work of others. A visit to a school, 
a workshop, a camp, a sanitarium, an asylum; a con- 



46 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

versation with a traveller, an artist, a tramp, a business 
man, a teacher; the pages of a foreign newspaper, a book, 
an old magazine — these and uncomited other sources of 
information are fairly clamoring to be opened. You need 
not depend entirely on first-hand experience or observation. 
Tell business, professional, or home-keeping friends of what 
you are trying to do — out of their experience-pack they 
will draw something to help you, and others through you. 
Not infrequently, you will find material for a full-length 
article where you thought to gather merely a paragraph. 

In seeking help from persons and printed matter you 
should, however, stand on your own feet so far as possible. 
fli your friend gives you a suggestion, tell him you are going 
^^ use it. It may not be necessary to give credit in the 
'paragraph, but suppose that your friend was intending to 
use the idea himself? Your frankness may save embar- 
rassment — and a friendship. 

Never offer for publication recipes and devices culled 
from printed matter unless by experiment you have been 
able to make the method your own by improving upon it. 
In matters of literary uprightness it is better to lean back- 
ward than forward. 

(c) Inventiveness is a rich source of "methods" material. 
Though invention is a native gift, inventiveness is a habit 
of mind, and hence may be cultivated. Many brains teem 
with fresh ideas of how to do things, but because no revo- 
lutionary patent seems in prospect the schemers allow 
their ideas to flit by unrecorded and unused. When any 
such idea comes to you, and you feel that you are not likely 
to put it on the market because it is not big enough to war- 



INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 47 

rant large exploitation, make a note of it, test its value if 
possible, and offer it for sale to some magazine. y^ 

(d) The camera and the sketch pencil are not only sources 
of, but adjuncts to, paragraphic material. Some maga- 
zines, such as Popular Science Monthly, Chicago, Popular 
Mechanics, Chicago, and Scientific American, New York, 
make a specialty of using illustrations with reports of in- 
ventions and discoveries. Others, like Leslie^s Weekly, 
New York, buy photographs of really striking current 
events and persons in the public eye, while others like The 
Strand,^ London and New York, and Wide World, London 
and New York, use pictures of strange happenings, freaks 
of nature, and the like. These together with the newspa- 
pers, do not, of course, exhaust the markets for photog- 
raphic material, whether offered with or without full de- 
scriptive text, for magazines devoted to agriculture, gar- 
dening, the home, outdoor life, sports, advertising, busi- 
ness, and in fact nearly all the illustrated periodicals, use 
photographs when they suit their pecuhar fields. It is 
wise to begin a list of all such markets, but the utmost / 
discrimination as to subject and timeliness is required.^ 

Your own collection of snap-shots may suggest a market- 
able item, and also teach you to carry your camera on 
journeys and walks so as to be ready for the interesting and 
the unusual. It is worth remembering that editors who 
have been hoaxed into accepting fanciful statements are 
likely to value photographic evidence that an unusual 
matter is precisely as reported. 

1 American edition discontinued during the European war. 

2 Number 120 of the Photo-Miniature, 103 Park Avenue, New 
York, contains helpful instructions on this subject. 



48 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

A clear print is absolutely necessary — ^glazed paper 
makes the best reproduction. Write your name and ad- 
dress on the back of the photograph, add the descriptive 
material in the fewest, simplest and most striking words 
possible, and mail the photograph flat and so packed that 
it cannot break. Study the special requirements of 
magazines that use photographs, for the demand in this 
field is highly specific. 

No great skill in draughtsmanship is demanded in 
sketching devices and inventions for the magazine. If you 
have such skill, all the better, but if your idea is good 
enough and it is sketched plainly, the editor will have the 
necessary drawing made. 

J. How to Write a Paragraph 

Make a study of the items presently given, with a view 
to discovering the methods the writers have used. Add to 
this examination a scrutiny of paragraphs in other periodi- 
cals, and the time spent will repay you. 
/ The prosperity of the item lies in the first paragraph, and 
the opening paragraph succeeds or fails with the initial 
sentence. An editor recently quoted the following opening 
as a good one: " In an out-of-the-way corner of Cincinnati 
expert dentists are engaged in filling, with finest grade gold 
or platinum, thousands of elks' teeth the year over — and 
possibly the very tooth on your watch-chain may, at some 
time, have undergone the curious process involved." 

Here we have a clear picture and an interest-provoking 
statement. See how this same plan has been followed in 
the succeeding items. 



INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 49 

RAISING THE SPELLING STANDARD 

Desiring to raise the standard of spelling in my school, I 
adopted the following plan. At the beginning of the month every 
pupil is on the honor roll. If any one misses five words during the 
month he is dropped from the honor roll. Those who remain on it 
at the end of the month are photographed. I have a Brownie 
camera and do the work myself. This picture is mounted on a 
paper bearing the names of Honor Pupils. At the end of the year 
each pupil who has been on the honor roll every month receives a 
booklet containing a picture of the honor roll pupils for every 
month. — Normal Instructor and Primary Plans. 

MILK FOR POULTRY 

The most valuable poultry food available on most farms is 
milk. Many farmers feed all their surplus milk to the hogs. Milk 
when fed to hogs, makes flesh that sells for seven or eight cents a 
pound. When fed to poultry, especially during the winter 
months, it makes eggs that sell for twenty-five cents a pound, and 
flesh that brings twice the price ordinarily offered for hogs. And 
besides, in discriminating markets, milk-fed poultry always sells 
at a premium. 

Given all the milk they will consume, hens will lay well in season 
and out of season. One cannot over-feed of milk. It is safe to 
keep it before the hens always. 

The vessels in which milk is fed should be washed and scalded 
daily. Earthenware crocks are the best for the feeding of milk 
since they are easily cleaned. If wooden troughs or vessels are 
used, they will, in a very short time, become so fouled that thoro 
cleaning is almost impossible. 

If only a limited quantity of milk is available for the hens, the 
better way of feeding it is to use it in moistening the mash. When 
used for this purpose the milk will be evenly distributed to the 
flock. — Successful Farming, 

LEATHERETTE BOOK COVERS 

With a little ingenuity, some leatherette upholstering material, 
glue, and a squeegee roller, very neat looking, handy, and service- 



50 WRITING rOR THE MAGAZINES 

able covers may be made for drawings, note-books and snap-shot 
photograph albums. The cover may be made best on the loose-leaf 
note-book principle, or may be made to cover a paper-bound book. 
By studying how any book is bound, it is easily seen how to go 
about making the cover. When it has been shaped and glued, the 
whole should be placed between two smooth boards and clamped 
for ten or twelve hours. — Popular Science Monthly. 

PLAN TO KEEP TEE CHILDREN'S 
STOCKINGS MATED 

I find the following plan very successful in keeping my 
children's stockings together without the usual sorting over after 
each washing. I take small snap fasteners and sew one part of the 
fastener on one stocking at the top, and the other part of the 
fastener at the top of the other stocking. When the stockings are 
taken off to be put in the laundry bag each child snaps his pair 
together. It does not interfere with the washing, and they can be 
hung on the line without clothespins. — Today's Magazine. 

/ HOW TO RENEW CARBON PAPER 

Quite by accident I discovered this method, which costs noth- 
ing, for renewing carbon paper. Hold the used carbon paper up 
to a lighted lam.p, taking care not to get it close enough to scorch 
the paper. The heat will cause the carbon to spread over the 
parts that are bare, leaving the sheet as good as new. The same 
sheet may be renewed a number of times. — The Writer's Monthly. 

IF I WERE A SHOE DEALER 

I would advertise by showing in my windows the outline of a 
certain right foot. 

Then, both in my windows and in my newspaper advertising, 
I would invite every customer and prospect to draw the outline 
of his right foot and send in the drawing. I would advertise that 
the person whose foot came nearest to being the same shape as the 
outline shown would receive a prize. 

I would make use of all the outlines received, by writing to the 
various contestants and telling them I had just the shoes to fit 
their feet, and I would name prices. — System. 



INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 5 1 



AN INTERNATIONAL TEST FOR VISION 



coo 



The International Ophthalmic Con- 
gress at Naples, in order to introduce 
uniformity in methods of measuring 
_ _ vision, has adopted the broken ring of 

O^^^ ^^ Landolt as the best possible interna- 
4^ ^^ tional test for visual acuteness. But 
as no efforts have been made to use it 

O^^ ^^ as cards with test letters are used, it 

^ ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ little practical value. 
^* ^ However, Dr. Edward Jackson, of 

Denver, has found that if the broken rings are arranged in a sym- 
metrical group and printed, as here illustrated, on a card that can 
be turned with any edge uppermost, it constitutes a test inde- 
pendent of a knowledge of letters. The test is placed five meters 
from the patient. If the direction of the break in the rings is 
recognized at full distance, full acuteness of vision is demon- 
strated. If at four and a half meters, the vision is one-tenth 
defective, and so on. — Popular Science Monthly. 

A careful examination of the foregoing and similar 
material will disclose that these paragraphs are marked by ^^■ 
seven characteristics: 

The utmost brevity is used. 

The explanations are so clear that they cannot be 

misunderstood. 
The style is simple and direct, without the slightest 

trace of *'fine writing." 
The purpose of the device or idea is succinctly stated 

at the opening, and then the explanations follow. 
The item does not merely give the idea but adds useful 

details for the operation of the plan. 
When a title is used, it is definite, yet does not tell too 
much. 



52 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

The ideas are of practical value and appeal to the 
reader as being usable. 

4, Marketing the Items 

A full discussion of market problems will be found in a 
succeeding chapter, but in this place one point must be 
emphasized: Keep clearly in mind — or, better still, on 
record — which magazines use methods, which use reports 
of inventions and appliances, which use experience-items, 
which use illustrations, and all the varieties of material 
treated in this chapter. 

It is not practicable to give here a list of the periodicals 
that use paragraphic items, for magazines come and go and 
their wants change, but it may be said that markets are 
usually to be found with magazines devoted to woman and 
the home, popular science, outdoor life, business, agri- 
culture and its aUied interests, and some of the professions, 
crafts and trades. It is decidedly necessary to examine at 
least one copy of any such periodical before submitting 
material. The field is large, but specialized. This advice 
applies equally to material accompanied by illustrations. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Begin a note-book or card index as recommended on 
pages 36 to 39. 

2. Exhibit a specimen page or card showing infor- 
mation bearing on the work discussed in this chapter. 

3. Clip at least six items of as many diiBferent types and 
test them by the characteristics named on pages 51, 52. 



INFORMATION AND METHOD ITEMS 53 

4. Give an original list of crude — undeveloped — ideas 
for paragraphic items. 

5. Prepare three original items, ready for publication. 
Test them for the seven needful characteristics. 

6. Say to what magazines they might properly be sent. 

7. Are any of these ideas big enough to warrant ex- 
pansion into a full article? 

8. Briefly relate any experience you may have had in 
this field. 

9. Present as full a list as possible of the magazines 
which use paragraphic items from outside contributors. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 



At first it may seem like splitting a hair between its 
north and northwest corners to distinguish the short article 
from the full-length brother, but as we go on, this separate 
treatment may be justified by practical considerations. 

Lying not exactly midway between the paragraphic 
item and the long magazine article, because it resembles 
more nearly the latter, is an essentially modern product 
which refuses to be classified under any more definite head 
than that of "short articles." The more journalistic the 
magazine, the more is this short, lively style of writing in 
evidence, therefore we may look for it in any of the newer 
magazines, and in some of the older. 

For purposes of treatment, and not because the classi- 
fication is in any sense exact, we shall examine these shorter 
pieces under three heads: 

I. The Information- Article 

The range of subject matter for such offerings is un- 
limited, though this statement does not apply when one 
considers any one magazine — the same wise suiting of 
commodity to market is required here as in every other 
effort to sell a piece of writing. Periodicals of all sorts 
use short information-articles, particularly when accom- 
panied by illustrations, but in submitting material the 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 55 

greatest care must be exercised to choose a subject that 
will interest the grade of readers to which the magazine 
caters, and the same is true in considering the method of 
treatment. To any experienced writer this should be 
obvious, yet editors are constantly complaining that 
authors whose names are well known now and then submit 
to an adult publication material which is almost juvenile 
in matter, though not in manner — the latter would be a 
more forgivable quality. 

In the following article, which was illustrated with one 
photographic half-tone, we have a distinctly simple tone, 
yet its information interests older folk as well as yoimger. 
In fact, it is a fascinating anomaly — the explanation of 
which may not be hard to find — that grandma loves 
SL NicholaSj while Mildred in grammar school dotes on 
Hearst's! Nevertheless, the general statement holds: We 
must aim our articles at a supposititious class of readers. 

THE FLYING-SQUIRREL 

Of all the tenants of the woods, the flying-squirrel is perhaps 
the most seldom seen, yet this is not due to any scarcity of the 
little animal, which in fact is among the most numerous of the 
squirrel family, but to its habit of moving almost entirely at night. 
Should you doubt this last statement, enter some patch of forest 
convenient to your home and strike solidly upon the trunks of 
such trees as appear to be dead and have one or more holes in 
the trunk; in about one time out of five your efforts will be 
rewarded by the appearance in the opening, as if by magic, of 
the bright eyes of a flying-squirrel. 

There are two species of flying-squirrel; the larger is much the 
same in size and color as our common red squirrel, while the other 
and rarer sort is of a grayish-cream shade and a trifle larger than 
the chipmunk. The habits of the two are similar; both are 



56 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

nocturnal, both inhabit by preference the hollow of some decayed 
tree — although they are not infrequently found in the discarded 
nests of the gray squirrel — and both are exceedingly gentle. 

These squirrels do not, of course, fly; but their legs are con- 
nected at the "wrists" with a light membrane which serves as a 
sort of parachute, although it has some of the possibilities of an 
aeroplane. Before making a flight, the squirrel will run rapidly 
up the trunk of a tree and, when he has attained a sufficient 
height, spring boldly off into space. With legs spread wide apart, 
so as to present the greatest possible surface to the air, and his 
extraordinarily wide and fluffy tail serving as a rudder, the squir- 
rel sails swiftly through the air, often for one hundred feet or even 
more, until he reaches the trunk of another tree, up which he 
runs in order to attain height for a new flight. By this method 
flying-squirrels are able rapidly to cover long distances with 
little exertion, for often, when nearing the end of a long sail, they 
will point themselves upward and by means of their "rudders" 
and the impetus given will rise almost to the height at which 
they started — just as a boy riding down hill may be carried over 
a lesser up-grade at the foot. 

Flying-squirrels are lighter for their size than any other animal, 
their bones being hollow, as are those of the birds, probably in 
order to give the greatest strength with the least weight; when 
held in the hand, they appear to be nothing but a bundle of fine^ 
silky fur. Like many other squirrels, their diet is almost exclu- 
sively vegetable, and they are never guilty of bird-murder and 
egg-snatching as are their kinsmen, the "reds." 

Because of their gentleness, flying-squirrels make most inter- 
esting pets, and will never bite unless very roughly handled. 

— A. E. SwoYER, in St. Nicholas. 

The simplicity of this little article, which is not printed 
as a model of good English, enforces an important point: 
The short information-article is not aimed at the "high- 
brow," therefore it must be free from all involved sentences 
and remote allusions. Just as in the informative par^-^ 
graph, we expect compression, directness, accuracy, a 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 57 

popular subject, an interesting opening, and a swift close. 
All extraneous matter and all display of opinions must be 
jigidly excluded. 

Practically all the specialized magazines, and many of 
the popular type, are in the market for short information- 
pieces which may be used as *' fillers," or even in depart- 
ments. The subject matter need not always bear on the 
specialty of the magazine but may be quite general in 
scope. However, a more certain market will be found for 
such articles as treat of the special field covered by the 
magazine to which it is offered. The Kindergarten Review 
contains an article by President Joseph Swain, of Swarth- 
more College, outlining *'A Peace Program," to insure 
international peace, and The Herald of Health prints one 
on the "Why Men Move Chairs," but manifestly the 
editors intended that these variations should serve for 
reUef in variety — they reserve their welcome mostly for 
articles within their own lines. 

2. The Experience- Article 

Here the scope is almost exclusively marked by the 
special character of the magazine, for though the physi- 
cian probably feels that he knows how to sell shoes, he 
does not expect to read advice on that subject in his medi- 
cal journal. 

A good example of the experience-article is the following: 

LITERARY BOOKKEEPING 

Every business requires bookkeeping; and when one is making 
a business of writing short articles some system is necessary. 



58 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

The financial end of it demands books and the overburdened 
brain wants to be free to do creative work instead of trying to 
remember that which has been done. We all realize this. 

Probably, therefore, you have formulated your own record 
book, or have one of the kind published for writers; but perhaps 
you may get a bit of an idea from my system, which, like that of 
many a comer grocer, has just evolved itself out of growing needs. 
So I venture to tear out two leaves — figuratively speaking: 

For two books are necessary, as I see it; one a manuscript 
record in which each article or story has its separate page, and 
the other a mailing record in which I can see at a glance just how 
many are "out," where, and what have been recently returned. 
Oh, yes, mine frequently come back, but the postman must merely 
carry them out again, possibly in the next mail, allowing me just 
time enough for examination and any needed revision. 

Each book is of regular memorandum size, 3x7 inches, to fit 
the pigeon-holes of my desk. A leaf from the "MSS. Record" 
looks like this: 



No. of MS. 

TITLE 
"The Autumn Garden" 

No. of words Date of writing 
800 May, 1915 

June 8, *15, Garden Mag. 

July 3, '15 

July 5, *15, Sprague Co. 
16.50 



The left-hand dates indicate the time of sending; the right- 
hand ones the date of return, while the "cash" marked in the 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 59 

center of the page acts as a big period to the story's wanderings, 
the price paid — in this instance, by the Sprague Company. Of 
course the details on this specimen page are fictitious. 

Often one sending is enough; but sometimes the column goes 
down the leaf, thus moving the beautful period nearer the bot- 
tom. 

Why are the prices placed in exactly that spot? No reason 
whatever, merely the habit, and possibly the desire of seeing them 
easily as I turn the leaves of the little book. 

I am filling my fifteenth record book, so you may know the plan 
has been satisfactory. 

The other book, the "Mailing Record," is needed to keep tab 
on what one has sent out. It is a crude affair, but such a source of 
quick information that I consult it much more frequently than 
the separate entries. A leaf from it would resemble this: 





May 








Stamps 


Rec'd 


May 2; 


"A Pillar of Pire" 








Meade Co. 


4 


|7.00 


" 5; 


"His VieYZ-point" 








Americs.n Boy 


8 


6.50 


1 " ^; 


"Building a Plot" 








Writer's World 


4 




" 8; 


"Joy Stories" 








Aoton Co. 


4 





This May record of mailing (incomplete, of course) shows me 
exactly the amount of work sent out in that time, the cost of 
postage, and what the work has brought in. The black line down 
the side marks "goods returned." 



6o WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

In this, the first two were taken, and netted S13.50, the third 
was sent back, and the fourth is still to be heard from. 

At the end of the month the postage column is added, but often 
it takes many months before the last can be set down, thanks to 
time-taking editors. 

At the close of a year it is a simple matter to take a blank leaf 
next to the December record and balance my year's work, as to 
cost, remuneration, nimiber of manuscripts sent, and number 
accepted. 

Another thing I am beginning to do to save labor: When an 
article is newly written and fresh in mind, I pencil on the MSS. 
Record a number of places where it might be sold if it should meet 
rejection on its first voyage; then, months later, when I am busy 
on something else, I do not have to re-read it before sending it out, 
or let it go at a venture. This is merely pencilled so that the 
suggestions may be erased when it has, like Noah's dove, found 
"a rest for the sole of its foot." 

These little schemes have helped me and have been born of 
necessity, so they are passed on that others may formidate their 
own books, incorporating just the ideas that appeal to them. 

— Lee McCrae, in The Writer's Monthly. 

The matter of the experience-article has been sufl&ciently 
forecasted in the treatment of the experience-item, in 
Chapter V. As for manner, some thought must be given 
to that. 

Readers resent being instructed in a "superior" sort of 
air, therefore a gentle way of suggesting methods of work is 
a manner to be desired. For a similar reason a too-free use 
of "I'^ is not wise, nor is a broad condemnation of methods 
other than the one presented, while complicated explana- 
tions, of course, confuse rather than help. Notice especially 
the cheery, chatty style of the foregoing little article. 

One of the chief faults editors find in experience-manu- 
scripts is a solemn elaboration of a method of doing a well- 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 6l 

nigh useless thing — a mere manufacturing of red tape. 
When such articles do get into print they exasperate 
readers who themselves know what to do and how to do 
it. Probably this sort of buncombe is the outgrowth 
less of experience than of a desire to write. When a real 
saving of time or money or effort grows out of experience 
a welcome for the concise *' story" of what it is and how it 
works out will surely be found on some printed page. 
Every periodical devoted to a class or a calling has open 
doors for experience-articles in its own field. 

J. The Interpretative Article 

I use this term for want of one more precise, meaning 
the short piece which, while dealing basically with facts, 
does not stop there but draws an inference, enforces a 
theory, or teaches a lesson. It is precisely in the tone of 
the time-honored "editorial," and as such wields an in- 
fluence commensurate with its own merit and the standing 
of the magazine in which it appears. 

While in magazines of all classes the information-article 
is more frequently met with, the contributed editorial — 
if I may use the descriptive though contradictory term — 
is by far the higher piece of literary work, and for that, if 
for no other reason, is worth cultivating. In fact, facility 
in writing this type of article is the thing that has seated 
a number of editors in their chairs. To be sure, the fact 
that certain editors — notably the present writers on 
Collier's Weekly, The Independent, The Outlook, and other 
magazines that comment on current events — are so gifted 



62 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

in writing trenchant interpretative paragraphs limits the 
market for this sort of material, yet for those who do it 
well — and know whereof they write — ^there are desirable 
openings. 

Of the four examples which follow two are contributed, 
as the attached names show, and two are editorial in the 
usual sense. 

INTERESTING STORY OF A $100 BILL 

Mrs. Davis came into possession of a new $100 bill. Prizing 
this money because it was the first she ever earned, she kept the 
original bill in her possession, most of the time on her person. 
Only a short time before her death, at eighty-four, were her 
relatives aware that she still had the bill. 

But Mrs. Davis had exhibited her desire to save money many 
years before she came into possession of the $100 note. When a 
little girl, nine years old, she deposited $10 in a savings bank, and 
received a pass book. She carried this book with her for seventy- 
five years. Three weeks before her death she told her grandson 
she was curious to know if the bank was still doing business and 
what had become of her $10 deposit. A letter giving the number 
of her pass book, the amount of the deposit and her maiden and 
present name, was written. Just one week from the day the letter 
was posted a reply was received to the effect that the deposit, 
together with the accrued interest for seventy-five years, amount- 
ing in all to $325.65, was in the bank for Mrs. Davis. 

A striking lesson is taught by Mrs. Davis's experience. When 
a little girl she invested only $10, which earned for her the splen- 
did sum of $315.65, and about the safety of which she had no 
worry during seventy-five years. No one can tell what must have 
been her worry for forty-five years over the safety of the $100 bill 
she prized so much. Strange that she did not seem to worry over 
its idleness as well. Had she deposited it with a savings bank pay- 
ing 4 per cent interest compounded quarterly, the principal and 
interest would have amounted to the handsome sum of $601.89. 
The $100 bill would have earned for her five other $100 bills. 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 63 

Her investment at nine years of age multiplied itself for her 
thirty-one times. Her sentiment at the age of thirty-nine, per- 
sisted in for forty-five years, deprived her of many comforts in 
her old age which the $600 would have provided. Her one con- 
solation must have been that her little $10 savings account more 
than trebled the value of her $100 bill. 

— T. P. JuNKiN, in American Magazine. 

REFORM UNDER COMPULSION 

Some reforms are the result of reason, some are due to the 
morning-after feeling, and some come because the bottle has gone 
dry. Fire-prevention in the United States — if it ever arrives — 
will belong to the last-named class. 

Every one knows, or might know, the hideous cost of fires in 
this land of the free and home of the tinder-box house. The 
wealth burned up or paid for alleged "fire protection" each year 
is not less than $450,000,000 — enough to pay for a new Panama 
canal every ten months. The life-cost varies, but every year more 
persons lose their lives through fires in this country than werq 
killed or died of wounds on the American side in the Spanish war. 

Yet, in spite of our boasted business acumen, we go on building 
costly structures in such fashion that they are sure to burn if they 
get a chance; and in spite of our famed philanthropy, we require 
millions of people to live and work in imminent risk of being 
burned to death. 

We will quit this criminal folly when the progress of ihventiori' 
and the increasing cost of lumber have made it cheaper and 
easier to build fire-proof structures than the kind which are kit 
the mercy of every imbecile with a match. We will swear bffi 
when the bottle is empty. Better then than never, of course; 
but if the change comes in our time, let us at least have the grace 
to refrain from bragging about it. "^^-^ -''"^- j,^'i:7i-~'ob ■/-iniiMO onz 
—George L. Y.iih^^i^^Mppi^tt'm'M^.iS^'ism 
■ rns-rij gniviv y^' fiji-e^rf o'dduq gnivxsa idi siqo^q oni^ix^g 

milk business; i > Ein3cn:-)<-An3vi)r. sgcq biloa bnil iiiw uo'i Ss'jbtiol 



64 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Keep in mind these three facts: 

The consumer in the city is paying the highest price for milk 
he has ever paid. 

The farmer is receiving for milk the lowest price he has ever 
received. 

The milk companies are paying the highest dividends they have 
ever paid and their stock is watered 90 per cent., whatever the 
cow may do with her milk as to butter fat. 

Last summer we were told that the War had caused the low 
price. Times were so hard people were not buying milk. There 
was a glut of milk. Therefore, prices went down below the cost 
of production. 

To-day, the Health Departments of two cities — New York 
and Boston — declare there is a serious shortage of milk — the 
Grade B milk, the kind which people of moderate means buy; 
but the price has not gone up to the farmer; and more and more 
dairymen are going out of the business. 

We are told that war caused the drop in rmlk and other dairy 
products last summer. As a matter of fact — not trade trickery 
to conceal price manipulation — butter exports have increased 
from three and a half million pounds to ten million pounds, cheese 
from two and a half million pounds to fifty-four million pounds, 
and condensed milk from eleven million pounds to thirty-seven 
million pounds. 

Yet the price was dropped automatically to the farmers to such 
a level that many dairymen went out of the business. 

The milk situation has now become an election issue in New 
England. Boston's report of the rigging of the milk market has 
gone to more than 50,000 investigators. 

Curiously enough, it has been proved by Wisconsin, one of the 
great dairy states, that the man who has been going up and down 
the country decrying the dairy farmers as benighted pagans and 
praising the milk companies for purifying milk and the oleomar- 
garine people for saving public health by giving them adulterated 
food instead of dairy butter — it has been proved that this Knight 
of the Milk Pail is publicity agent for the milk trust; and in short, 
wherever his damning indictment of the farmer has been shouted 
loudest you will find solid page advertisements of the milk trust 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 65 

paid for at from $1,200 per page to $4,000. Hush! Of course, 
there is no connection ! 

The truth is the milk situation is coming exactly to where New 
York and Massachusetts and Wisconsin have foreseen it would 
come. Dairy interests will have to be taken out of trust manage- 
ment and the sale handled by the State. Details of these plans, 
which are likely to be election issues, will be given fully in another 
month. — Current Opinion. 

FOOLISH SHOWMEN 

A theatre manager's house is his castle, according to the New 
York Court of Appeals, and he can exclude from it any critic 
whose remarks he doesn't like. The only point is that he must 
shut him out because of his remarks and not on account of his 
color, creed, and the things he is born with. Apparently, a green 
and yellow cannibal with rings in his ears can sit beside you if 
he has two dollars, but the local Shaw or Hazlitt who might per- 
haps assist in your appreciation of the author's work (or even 
save you from being bored by it) can be hurled into the cold night. 
This victory is a legal rather than a moral one, for theatre 
managers are the last persons in the world to stop people talking 
about their plays. The case does serve to show again, however, 
the low estate of our stage. In countries where the people really 
care about such things — in France, for instance — critics even see 
plays the night before the first night, so that they may have more 
time to explain their merits or defects. The learned counsel in 
this case would, on the other hand, apparently do away with 
first-night criticism altogether on the groimd that it interferes 
with the manager's inalienable right to sell gold bricks without 
giving his victims a chance to look them over first. When the 
manager says that newspapers and their writers "autocratically 
sway the public patronage of a play," he is either disingenuous 
or extremely naive. A dramatic critic may save a soul now and 
then, but he cannot revolutionize the control of plays until 
American taste has been revolutionized and somebody besides 
the critic himself takes his work seriously. — Collier's. 

Naturally enough, our magazines now print such in- 



66 ' WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

terpretative material in greater variety than is found on 
the editorial page of the daily newspaper. Sometimes it is 
the breezy comment on men and things in The Saturday 
Evening Post^ again it is the secular homily of The Fra, 
yet again it is the reserved political expression of The 
Outlook y but always two qualities mark it as a type dif- 
ferent from any other: It deals exclusively with one 
phase of a subject, a little essay in itself; and it is chock-a- 
block full of opinion, insistence on a fixed viewpoint — 
which is to say, it makes without apology its own inter- 
pretation of events and facts. Thus the short interpreta- 
tive article becomes a rostrum, a pulpit, which someone 
with a following mounts to say his say.* 

Other short forms are, of course — the secular preach- 
ments of Richard Wightman, the literary homilies of 
Dr. Van Dyke, the achievements of men of the hour, the 
letter which finds almost its only market in ''The Con- 
tributors' Club" of The Atlantic Monthly, the little essay, 
and other variants; but these three notes — information, 
experience, interpretation — sound through them all; 
with one other that is or should be common to each: the 
single worth-while point. This is the characteristic quality 
of the short article. He who pushes that point home with 
vigor, timeliness and charm will not fail of a reading. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

I. How does the information-article differ from the 
i\ paragraph of similar purpose? 

1 For suggestions on the thought, arrangement and style of 
this type of article see Exercise 20, on page 68. 



THE SHORT ARTICLE 67 

2. Select from any magazine a typical short informa- 
tion-article. 

3. Criticise it, favorably or adversely, or both. 

4. Do the short information-articles in the better grade 
of magazines follow any definite order of arrangement, or 
are they loosely put together? 

5. Make a list of three themes for such articles as you 
think you can write. 

6. Make a list of the facts you wish to tell, in an order 
that will begin with interest and lead up to an interesting 
fact at the close. 

7. Examine a number of such articles in periodicals 
and compute the average number of words allowed. 

8. Write the article outlined in Exercise 6, paying care- 
ful attention to the title. 

9. What is climax? 

10. Have you come to a climax in your article? 

11. What is anti-climax? 

12. Write an experience-article, saying for what class 
of magazines you think it suited. 

13. What do you understand by interpretation? 

14. Name three groups of facts, or three events, which 
would be suitable for use in interpretative articles. 

15. Write an opening sentence for each. 

16. Is each striking? Clear? Too short to be expressive? 
Too long to be vigorous? 

17. Choose one theme of the three and write the first 
paragraph. 



68 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

i8. Does the second sentence follow naturally on the 
first? 

19. Finish the article, remembering Professor Barrett 
Wendell's injunction to "end with words that deserve 
distinction." 

20. Test your article by the following considerations: 
Present-day interest; vital meaning of the facts; sound- 
ness of reasoning ; clearness of thought ; unity of the whole 
article; singleness of theme, and consequent impression; 
variety of sentence structure; vigor of statement; popu- 
larity of style; ease; satire, if any; humor, if any; 
sequence of ideas; climax. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 

Two things it is hard to define satisfactorily: that which 
is obvious, and that which takes many forms and yet is 
essentially one. The nature of the magazine article is 
surely obvious as a form of writing, and it just as certainly 
takes on a multitude of forms while yet remaining clearly 
an " article. " In its most formal and literary aspect it is an 
essay; again it will be a concise scientific treatise; still 
again it may attempt to demonstrate a philosophical thesis; 
or it will be a straight biography; or a history; or an un- 
adorned exposition of what a thing is and how it differs 
from other things; or it may consist of a simple expla- 
nation of methods of work. Its styles and its purposes are as 
endless as human ingenuity, exercised to meet human de- 
mand. Hence the futility and the needlessness of a formal 
definition: A magazine article is — a magazine article. 

I. What Shall I Write About? 

Once I suggested to Dr. Henry Van Dyke that he WTite 
on a certain subject. In his gracious way he replied that he 
had so many things in his mind clamoring for expression 
that he must give the rest of his life to writing only them. 
But the author of "Little Rivers" is a full man, ripe and 
rich in experience. Most younger writers and all beginners 
are still on the lookout for subjects suitable alike to their 
own abilities and to public demand. 



70 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Doubtless most themes for articles spring into the fore- 
front of the mind and so suggest themselves, but others 
must be dragged from dark corners of memory, while yet 
others must be actually created. Even the most alert in- 
ventor needs a well-stored mind to draw upon. 

The thing to write about is oftenest (a) the thing that 
interests you. The good editor is first of all a man — a 
woman — of sympathies, enthusiasms, curiosities. Banking 
on the catholicity of his own interests he chooses for his 
readers partly what he himself likes, but mostly he is 
constantly leaping into the twilight to seize the suspected 
likes of others different from himself. 

So it must be with the successful writer. Every day the 
editor hears or reads these sentences from some reliable 
contributor : " Here is an article on a subject which has long 
interested me — I've been wanting to do this for five years." 
Or, "I think your readers would like this." No man can 
live an entirely objective life — ^he must begin with himself. 
The whole theorem of life is typified by the writer's prob- 
lem: Given, self ; to find out, non-self , 

The thing that interests you is likely to be (b) the thing 
you know outside and in. How can I write that word 
"know" in letters ten feet high! Authority is the big idea 
here. If you know your interesting subject only a little, at 
least be sure that it is (c) the thing you are in a position to 
learn about. Research, intelligent investigation, forms the 
basis of many a masterly article. Look everywhere — 
every how — to find all the facts. Hasty conclusions spell 
lame results. 

(d) The thing of wide interest and (e) the thing of special 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 7 1 

or class interest are never-failing sources of article-material. 
Methods of industrial economy attract the many, methods 
of manufacture appeal to a class. It is a safe rule for the 
beginner to follow the news in choosing his subjects. 

When one is advised to write of (f) the thing of present 
interest it seems like an easy formula, yet so swiftly does 
life move that we must also have a prophetic eye for (g) 
the thing of coming interest. It was said of President 
Cleveland that he was in advance of his party because he 
had his ear to the ground. The writer must be keen to hear 
the vibrations of on-marching events. Not only must he 
prepare by gathering material for a hurry-chance, but he 
must forecast the next swing of public interest. When the 
next great American dies the recording angel of the press 
will have his biography all written; when the first cloud, 
like a baby's fist in size, appears to presage a new national 
interest, it will find some open-eyed scribe ready to be its 
press agent — and *'it might as well be you." 

Two other sorts of subjects must be noted in rapid pass- 
ing: (h) the thing that is little known j yet which has the 
potentiality of wide interest — like how big guns are made — ' 
. and (i) the unfamiliar phase of a familiar thing. *' Inside," 
^behind the scenes," "personally conducted" — these are 
sure magic for our public. Nor is the passion for seeing 
unfamiliar works and for having mysteries laid open a 
despicable side of human nature. Intelligent curiosity 
makes the American periodical possible. 

But how many other kinds of article-themes soever we 
may catch and label — and I have only begun the list — each 
one must be infused with one big interest: HUMAN in- 



72 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

terest. Are we absorbed in geology, it is because man 
stands somewhere in the background. Ants that war like 
human armies, rivers stored to make fertile the fields of 
man, ships that make and mar national careers — a myriad 
forms of things appeal to us because of their relationships 
to man and his vaulting aims. We must come close home 
to our readers so that each may say, "Ah, that touches my 
life!" Analyze the popular article and see how nearly it 
touches the recreations, the industries, the homes, and the 
prospective welfare of the middle class. Talk to a man 
about himself and he will listen. 

In choosing the thing to write about we should have in 
mind the sort of magazine that prints such material — ^we 
must write for men and women in a definite plane. This, 
however, will not limit the market so definitely as might at 
first appear. Scan the list of titles and themes on pages 
74 to 77 and note that even specialized magazines use 
articles not only of a very general sort, but also of a 
specialized t5^e seemingly quite remote from their own 
specialty. In making an abstruse thing plain you reach 
both up and down. Nevertheless, it is most important to 
keep in view a definite market. This advice takes on added 
force when you consider technical, professional and trades 
Journals. 

Probably the reason why so wide a diversity of subjects 
is to be found in even specialized periodicals lies chiefly in 
the editor's wish to avoid the monotony of too much shop 
talk, but when he does go aside from his path he is, or ought 
to be, careful to preserve one quality: unity of tone in all 
that he prints. His magazine has not only a field but a 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 73 

character. Your father admitted to your home many 
different friends — but he saw to it that each measured up 
to his standard, or their welcome was quietly cancelled. 

Tone is a subtle thing, well worth studying. Many an 
article rejected by one group of magazines has been 
changed to harmonize with the tone of one in a diametrical 
group and met with instant acceptance. To preserve this 
personality, this tone, is a big part of the editorial duty. 
It is difficult to say precisely how Collier^ s differs in tone — 
I do not say in aims — from The Metropolitan, but it does, 
and unless you prefer to write and submit your articles 
hit-or-miss it will be well worth trying to sense that dif- 
ference even if you cannot express it precisely. Perhaps, 
however, this illustration is unfortunate — it is better not to 
begin by submitting articles to magazines that buy most of 
their non-fictional material by arrangement with promi- 
nent writers. Don't despise an apprenticeship. Careers, 
\J like skyscrapers, are begun in the cellar. If you think you 
are the exception, go ahead and find out. 

The following list of articles should be suggestive of 
present-day needs. Notice how the titles in almost every 
instance index the probable contents; how little trickery 
of phrasing there is in the titles; how either the infor- 
mational or the practical note sounds constantly; how 
timeliness is to the fore ; and how that many of the titles 
make you feel that you would like to know something 
about, or more of, that subject, according to your tastes. 

Again, note the proportion of information-articles to 
pure human-interest material. Let me repeat that the 
magazine writer is constantly peering at us to discover the 



74 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

things that affect our lives — our business, our reading, our 
play, our journeys, our beliefs, our sympathies. What he 

\ has done for us we must do for others. That is the big 

V^ lesson as we read what has been written. 

FIFTY TYPICAL SUBJECTS AND TITLES OF 
MAGAZINE ARTICLES 

I. Get Ready for 5,000,000 Automobiles. Critical 
street problems which are arising with the revo- 
lution in transportation. Frederick Upham 
Adams, American. 

Frontier Cities of Italy. Florence Craig 
Albright, National Geographic. 

Helping Crippled Soldiers. Howard C. Felton, 
Munsey. 

Eastertide in Old Seville. Mabel Clendenning 
FitzGerald, Book News Monthly. 

America and Americans in Recent German 
Fiction. Harvey W. Thayer, Bookman. 

Edwin Markham's Poetic Method. Henry 
Meade Bland, Writer^s Monthly. 

A Film Newspaper in the Making. Alfred A. 
Cohn, Photoplay Magazine. 

War Scenes that Never Happened. Photoplays 
of War. Edward C. Grossman, Illustrated World. 

Why are My Photographs a Failure? O. L. 
Griffith, Ladies^ Home Journal. 
10. George Bernard Shaw: An Impression. Daniel 
A. Lord, S. J., Catholic World. 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 75 

11. PmcHED IN Poland. A wartime experience. John 

Reed, Metropolitan. 

12. The Right Use of Books. Laura Spencer Porter, 

Woman's Home Companion. 

13. Horace: An Appreciation. Charles Newton 

Smiley, Educational Review. 

14. Words and Their Uses. Emma Miller Bolenius, 

McCaWs. 

15. The Psychology of Speed and Accuracy in 

Typewriting. M. N. Bunker, American Penman. 

16. Snow Shoes — How to Use and Sell Them. C. L. 

Oilman, Sporting Goods Dealer. 

17. Tennis Courts of Concrete. J. N. Moyer, 

Countryside. 

18. The Conservation of Scenery. Albert M. 

Turner, Fra. 

19. Dynamite Makers. Willard Fay, Collier's. 

20. Farm Credits. William C. Brown, National. 

21. Constructive Preparedness. Edward H. Smith, 

McClure's. 

22. Kindergarten Training for the Colt. E. Paige 

Loomis, Country Life in America. 

23. The King and Queen of Belgium. A. E. P. B. 

Weigall, Delineator. 

24. America and Japan. Baron Eiichi Shibusawa, 

Century. 

25. A Royal Wedding in War-Tiaie. The Marriage of 

Her Royal Highness Marie-Louise d'Orleans and 
Prince Philippe de Bourbon, Harper's Bazaar, 



76 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

26. What is Music? Thomas Whitney Surette, 

Atlantic Monthly. 

27. Hunting the Gobbler in Florida. R. N. Burne, 

Outdoor Life, 

28. School Credits for Home Work. Charles P. 

Clark, Mother^ s Magazine, 

29. Capt. Sally Tompkins, C. S. A. Emma Look 

Scott, Southern Woman's Magazine. 

30. Confessions of a Peace Pilgrim. Helen Ring 

Robinson (member of the Ford Peace Expedi- 
tion), Independent. 

31. The Charm of New Orleans. Ernest Peixotto, 

Scrihner^s. 

32. How I Doctor Sick Hotels. J. C. Wilbraham, 

National Sunday Magazine. 

33. Russia's Contribution to the War. Stanley 

Washburn, Review of Reviews. 

34. Mr. Carnegie and his Peace Flock. Gerald 

Stanley Lee, Everybody's. 

35. How Rich is America? Albert W. Atwood, 

Saturday Evening Post. 

36. What Can We Do About the Business Death 

Rate? (Failures in business). Stanley A. Dennis, 
System. 

37. Italy and Servian Aid. Gino C. Speranza, 

Outlook. 

38. The New Head of Tuskegee. Ray Stannard 

Baker, World's Work. 

39. In Time of War Preparing for Peace. Mark S. 

Watson, Canada Monthly. 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 77 

40. Feeding Belgium. Horace Fletcher, Physical 

Culture. 

41. Sound Methods of Preparedness. A symposium ^,/' 

gathered by George Creel, Hearsfs. 

42. Meeting Potash Shortage. C. A. LeClair, 

Successful Farming. 

43. The Making of a Submarine Mine. John 

Randolph Rexford, Popular Science Monthly. 

44. Isolde at Home. The real life of a prima donna. 

Johanna Gadski, Woman's Home Companion. 

45. Fighting the Storm King (Snow). E. L. Bacon, 

Railroad's Man's Magazine. 

46. Some Labor Lessons from Germany. Frederic 

C. Howe, Pearson's. 

47. Adrianople Between Wars. H. G. Dwight, v/ 

Harper^s, 
y48. The Heredity Bugaboo. H. Addington Bruce, 
Pictorial Review. 
49. The Birthplace of the Motion Picture. H. C. 

Peterson, Sunset. 
'50. The Fallacy of Grief. Maurice Maeterlinck, v 
Cosmopolitan. 

2. Opening the Article 

One never tires of quoting Professor Barrett Wendell's 
witty remark: "Most people have a very strong impulse 
to preface something in particular by at least a paragraph 
of nothing in particular, bearing to the real matter in hand 
a relation not more inherently intimate than that of the 
tuning of violins to a symphony. It is the mechanical 



78 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

misfortune of musicians that they cannot with certainty 
tune their instrimients out of hearing. It is the mechanical 
luck of the writer that he need not show a bit more of his 
work than he chooses." ^ 

See how in the following examples the introductions 
actually introduce, or else the author plunges without 
ceremony into what he has to say. Each of these is taken 
from Munsey^s Magazine for April, 1916. I have chosen a 
single issue for two reasons : this periodical stands midway 
between the highly literary journal and the newer, flippant 
magazine of more cleverness than solidity; and also be- 
cause the articles whose openings are here given vary 
widely in both tone and appeal. Note, however, the cur- 
rent interest of each subject, as suits the aim of this 
periodical. 

THE STORY OF ENGLAND 
By Nicholas Brenton 

At the outbreak of the present war, when the British alliance 
with Russia was stigmatized in Germany as a piece of "racial 
disloyalty," it was retorted in England that the complaint 
illustrated that pedantic antiquarianism which is a marked 
feature of the German mind. By thus drawing attention to the 
undisputed origins of the English people, Germany only empha- 
sized the more the striking manner in which races originally one 
have developed away from each other, till differentiation has 
made of them nations which to-day seem indeed to have little in 
common save that far-away beginning. 

To-day the cousinship is so distant that they have practically 
ceased to be of the same family; for, while the German has re- 
mained German, the modern Englishman seems no more a 
German than he seems a Frenchman. Yet when England first 

* English Composition. 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 79 

began to be England, with the Anglo-Saxon subjugation of the 
imperfectly Romanized Britain, "it was," in Green's phrase, "the 
one purely German nation that rose upon the wreck of Rome." 
The chemistry of the subsequent change is as mysterious as 
that of all other racial transmutations. 

In this real introduction our general interest in current 
happenings is used to awaken a special interest in the his- 
tory of England. At the same time, the opening reference 
serves as a logical point of departure for the writer to 
show how the English became a unique nation. 

TEE HAVOC OF INVASION 

A BROAD TRAIL OF RUIN THROUGH FIVE FAIR 
PROVINCES OF FRANCE 

By J. W. McConaughy 

War, observed the late Charles Reade, has ever been against 
the solid interests of mankind. But in past centuries, in the 
dynastic wars of which Europe has seen so many, its record of 
wanton destructiveness was comparatively negligible. 

The article itself is really an elaboration of the thesis 
found in the second sentence of the introduction. It shows 
by contrast the destruction wrought in France today. 
This form of thesis-introduction is one of the best. 

OUR TURBULENT HOUSE 

LEGISLATORS WHO NEVER ARE IN ORDER, AND 
PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE 

By Horace Towner 

When the Sixty-Fourth Congress, which we now have with us, 
had completed the preliminaries of organization, Champ Clark 
took his place behind the Speaker's desk, brought his gavel down 



8o WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

with a resounding whack, and roared, in exactly the same tone 
and inflection with which he had used the same phrase several 
thousand times before: "The House will be in order!" (Whack!) 

But the House wouldn't be in order. It never has been in 
order, and probably it never will be. Not even the majestic pres- 
ence and leonine roar of Speaker Champ Clark can repress that 
restless body. 

It must be admitted that Mr. Clark does his best. 

Here we have a chatty, journalistic opening which 
advertises at once that a light tone will be adopted. The 
easy narrative of historic scenes of turbulency in Congress 
bears out the opening impression. 

TEE POLITICAL TRUCE IN CANADA 

HOW THE DOMINION HAS SET PATRIOTISM ABOVE 
PARTY IN THE CRISIS OF A GREAT WAR 

When we of the United States speak of "a bitter political 
fight," we usually have at the back of our minds the late Tilden- 
Hayes unpleasantness, or Lincoln's first campaign for the Presi- 
dency. Compared with the political battles of our brother Anglo- 
Saxon nations, our ordinary electoral campaigns are about as 
bitter as ice-cream soda. 

This unsigned article also uses the journalistic opening. 
It employs the popular method of appealing to knowledge 
so as to find a basis for comparison. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 

AND THE THREE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF 
HIS DEATH 

By Richard Le Gallienne 

If we attempt to formulate at its broadest and simplest our 
feeling as we think of Shakespeare, our most inclusive emotion as 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 8l 

his name springs involuntarily to our lips, I believe that we shall 
find it to be that of an immense kindness toward him. Leaving 
aside our wonder and reverence at the manifold operations of his 
genius, his intellect, his imagination, his power of poetic ex- 
pression, we think first of the quality that with such large ease 
included all these attributes — his boundless humanity. 

He is the greatest of all poets, because he was the most human 
of all human beings as well. He is our supreme authority on 
human nature. We do not think of Dante, nor even of Homer, 
in that way. Other poets may be inaccessible mountain peaks, or 
even star-mantled mountain ranges. Shakespeare alone is a 
continent. Humanity is in need of all its poets can give it, but 
its greatest need in its interpreters is — himianity. 

The value of this somewhat oratorical opening lies in the 
fact that it sounds the key note of the article, which, 
while not new in matter, is timely enough to serve as an 
interest-arousing theme. 

PREPAREDNESS— OF A NEW KIND 

By Franklin K. Lane 

UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Some months ago I sought to learn what I could of the assets 
of this country as they might be revealed by the Department of 
the Interior. I desired to find just where we were in point of 
development, and what we had with which to meet the world; 
for we were learning that war is no longer a set contest between 
more or less mobile armies, but an enduring contest between all 
the life-forces of the contending parties — their financial strength, 
their industrial organization and adaptability, their crop yields, 
and their mineral resources. Ultimately, indeed, it comes to a 
test of the very genius of the peoples involved. 

To mobilize an army, even a great army, is now no more than 
an idle evidence of a single form of strength, if behind this army 
the nation is not organized. 



82 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

This is another thesis-introduction, the last half of 
which is immeasurably better than the former. 

THE METRIC SYSTEM 

THE INCREASING PROSPECT OF ITS ADOPTION IN THE UNITED 
STATES 

By Judson C. WelUver 

Pounds and ounces, gallons and quarts, tons and hundred- 
weight, miles and yards, feet and inches, acres and square feet, 
are making ready for their exit from the stage of American 
business affairs. 

Truth to say, they have had no good excuse for lingering with 
us so long. They ought to have been lifted out on the toe of the 
legislative boot long ago. They are confusing, obsolete, un- 
scientific, and calculated to demoralize all commercial trans- 
actions measured in their terms. Their continued existence as 
the standards of weight and measurement in American business 
is a testimony to our national conservatism, and to the over- 
powering inertia that so often prevents the accomplishment of 
things which everybody knows ought to be done. 

This is a most effective introduction for this sort of 
article, which, as may be guessed, is positive and uncom- 
promising in tone. 

FOUR FAMOUS AMERICAN OCTOGENARIANS 

A QUARTET OF VETERANS WHO AT MORE THAN FOURSCORE 
YEARS ARE STILL USEFUL AND ACTIVE CITIZENS 

To Henri Frederic Amiel, the Swiss philosopher whose "Journal 
Intime " has gained a posthumous celebrity, we owe this profound 
observation: 

To know how to grow old is the master-work of wisdom, and 
one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living. 

This is a truth heartily indorsed by elderly gentlemen of ex- 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE S^ 

perience and by younger men of imagination. And herewith are 
the portraits of four well-known Americans who have conspicu- 
ously achieved their "master- work." 

This unsigned light article is well introduced. The sug- 
gestions of pleasant eulogy and none-too-critical con- 
sideration are carried out. 

Only let the opening be striking enough to command 
attention, suggestive enough to arouse expectation, fitting 
enough to match the theme, and pitched in a key low \ \ 
enough to make interest climacteric, and the writer may 
open in the way that pleases him best. But with all his 
will let him resolve to get started quickly. 

5. The Body of the Article 

Well-bred articles keep their skeletons concealed, yet 
the bony structure is none the less valuable. 

Having it clearly in mind that in no circumstances must 
the framework stick out, the writer had better learn to out- 
line his article before beginning the actual writing. Each 
thought he wishes to elaborate might well be jotted on a 
slip of paper. If there are a group of distinctly subordinate 
thoughts under any one of the main thoughts, these should 
be set down, perhaps on the same slips that contain the 
major thoughts. When the main thoughts have been re- 
corded, and also the subsidiary ideas under their appro- 
priate main headings, spread out the slips of paper like so 
many cards in a game. Consider carefully the thought ~- 
with which to open, which ought to follow, and which ~ 
should end the article. Climax, or rising interest, is a 



84 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

natural order. "End with words that deserve distinc- 
tion" — Dr. Wendell's wise saying bears repetition; but 
first be sure that the thought is worthy of the words. 

Throughout the entire process of writing keep your out- 
line before you so as to give due proportion to each thought. 

Since the present work is a manual of instruction, and 
emphasis on each point is important, it has been thought 
best to make most of the bones to show. Examine, then, 
the skeleton of this chapter to see how section is added to 
section, and how any one section includes a number of 
contributory ideas which amplify the major thought. But 
so formal an arrangement for a magazine article would be 
very bad indeed, even in the average educational journal. 
Freedom, ease, and charm would be entirely killed by this 
method. Study the chatty way in which the lighter 
articles in our best magazines are handled. Even dialogue 
is introduced, and the information slipped to the reader in 
a style anything but dogmatic. True, the more serious 
articles are more sober, yet our brighter essayists are never 
heavy, and a flash of wit, if the match be not struck too 
frankly, is rarely out of place. The magazine writer must 
not seem to instruct. 

The whole thing may be summed up in a word: Know 
where you are going, map out the route, mark each stage 
mentally but not too openly, then go to your destination 
with as light and swift a step as you can. And don't get 
lost. 

4. The Length of the Article 
The memory of the Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon is revered 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 8$ 

by multitudes, but his popularity would be greater if 
everyone knew his declaration that *'a short prayer is long 
enough if it reach God." 

One might fill a long chapter in praising brevity. But 
what is the answer to the question: How long should a 
magazine article be? The best answer is the only answer — 
much the same as that of the boy who when asked by his 
teacher, ''How long should the legs of a well-porportioned 
man be?" replied, "Long enough to reach the ground, 
sir." 

There are, of course, definite requirements of space 
with different magazines, and these standards are not the 
expressions of an editor's whim but grow out of the need 
for a full and well-varied table of contents, and, in many 
instances, from the exigencies of fitting articles with 
illustrations. But after all, the question is usually this — 
is the article a major or a minor one? If the former, it will 
justify the allotment of more space than if it were of only 
secondary importance. The major, or leading, articles will 
therefore average more words than the grand average 
shows in the examination now to be reported. 

This study of a large number of well-known magazines 
has been, for the purpose of showing a wide range of kinds, 
narrowed to forty-five. In each instance the examination 
covered three numbers — issued, almost without exception, 
in 1916. 

The short prefatory Note shows why the conclusions 
reached may be taken as representative of present-day 
editorial demands with regard to the number of words in 
the full-length magazine article. One thousand words is 



86 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



not an arbitrary dividing line set between the short article 
and the long, for in actual practice it marks a reasonable 
division — short articles average considerably less than one 
thousand words and the full-length product a great many 



more. 



Average Length of Articles in Three Issues Each of 
Forty-Five Magazines 

Note: So as not to include editorials, unsigned staff 
material, department material, and very short articles or 
"fillers," only signed articles of at least one thousand words 
were counted as being *' full-length articles." 





Number 

of 

Articles 

in Three 

Issues 


Words 




Name of Magazine 


in the 
Longest 
Article 


Average 
Length 


Scribner's 


12 


8800 


6110 


Harper's 


i8 


7200 


5622 


Atlantic 


37 


8000 


5492 


Everybody's 


8 


9000 


S131 


Pearson's 


19 


6800 


4700 


Munsey 


15 


1 0000 


4260 


Saturday Evening Post 


13 


7400 


4250 


Century 


14 


7300 


4221 


Metropolitan 


9 


7200 


4106 


Corner's 


8 


5900 


3975 


North American Review 


30 


7000 


3870 


World's Work 


33 


6200 


3479 


Travel 


IS 


7400 


3422 


Review of Reviews 


27 


8000 


3415 


Cosmopolitan 


6 


6000 


3371 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 



87 





Number 

of 

Articles 

in Three 

Issues 


Words 




Name of Magazine 


in the 
Longest 
Article 


Average 
Length 


Good Housekeeping 


16 


4900 


3328 


Bookman 


18 


7000 


3261 


McClure's 


9 


7900 


3200 


Mothers' 


25 


5000 


3120 


System 


44 


4900 


2666 


Bellman 


8 


3750 


2620 


Southern Woman's 


19 


5600 


2620 


St. Nicholas 


10 


4300 


2485 


McCall's 


16 


3850 


2484 


Yachting 


12 


3750 


2358 


Delineator 


II 


5300 


2441 


Outlook 


20 


4400 


2440 


Outing 


26 


6800 


2385 


Woman's Home 








Companion 


18 


4000 


2330 


Hearst's 


8 


3700 


2325 


American 


18 


4500 


2282 


Physical Culture 


25 


5600 


2236 


Overland 


22 


5300 


2218 


Ladies' Home Journal 


20 


4000 


2085 


Independent 


15 


3500 


i960 


Canada Monthly 


II 


3000 


1863 


Designer 


9 


3500 


1862 


Pictorial Review 


7 


3000 


1800 


Theatre 


23 


4000 


1800 


Christian Endeavor World 


4 


2700 


1800 


Popular Science Monthly 


27 


3400 


1800 


House and Garden 


27 


3050 


1606 


Motor 


16 


2100 


1572 


Writer's Monthly 


21 


2500 


1414 


Country Life in America 


16 


2500 


1300 



88 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

It will be seen that magazines whose articles average 
more than 4000 words bring up the grand average materi- 
ally. In fact, twenty-three of the forty-five magazines 
reported on, average less than 2500 words for each article, 
and eleven magazines average less than 2000 words. 

This preference for short material is further emphasized 
by the fact that many of these magazines also use a con- 
siderable number of really short articles. For example, 
while three issues of Cosmopolitan contain only six full- 
length articles, the same numbers carry three short ones; 
Country Life in America prints eleven very short articles 
in addition to its sixteen longer pieces ; Hears fs gives six 
short pieces in addition to eight of full length; while The 
Christian Endeavor World uses more short than long con- 
tributions. Thelongest article contains 10,000 words; the 
shortest, 1000; and the average length of 805 articles in 
135 issues (3 each) of forty-five magazines is 2962 words — 
substantially, 3000. 

For the foregoing and other equally obvious reasons 
wiiters ought to conclude that only in the most exceptional 
instances would they be justified in offering articles of the 
maximum length used. It is surely the part of prudence to 
keep within the average, to say nothing of the extreme. 

5. Ending the Article 

If the old-fashioned introduction has gone out of style, 
much more so has the afore-time wind-up. Indeed, those 
who look — ^generally in vain — for literary form in the 
modern magazine often complain that the usual article of 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 89 

C today ends with more promptness than is pleasing. How- 
ever this may be as a matter of good taste, the writer faces 
"not a theory but a condition." Editors do not want any 
farewells or final flourishes which, if retained, might cause 
an article to run over to a new page, whereas a — it is to be 
hoped — judicious use of the blue pencil will save that 
embarrassment and make an article end where the real 
thought stops. A single concise summary — packed into 
one clear sentence, if possible — or an epigrammatic tone- 
sentence, is all that should be allowed. 

GUIDE POSTS FOR THE WRITER OF ARTICLES 

Ask innumerable questions and be satisfied with no 
shallow answers. 

Consider your subject in its relationships of comparison 
and contrast. 

Do not insist on the obvious, nor prove the proved. 

Do not be content with stating facts — vitalize your facts 
with ideas. 

Look into the past, the present and the future of your 
subject, but do not try to tell it all. 

If the interest-point does not lie in the cause, seek for it 
in the effect — and contrariwise. 

Think and ask and plan before you read; and do all 
three before you write. 

Inference and suggestion are invaluable literary devices; 
not everything must be baldly told. 

Simplicity is the hall-mark of knowledge; one is j,arely 
profound when he is elaborate. 



90 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Humor is a saving grace, solemnity a cardinal sin — but 
dQn't confuse triviality with lightness. 
\ Pomposity will kill more live ideas than crudeness. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Without attempting a formal definition, what do 
you understand by (a) a newspaper feature article? (b) a 
full-length magazine article? 

2. Realizing that the types coincide at some points, in 
what respects do they usually differ? 

3. Set down as many subjects for magazine articles as 
occur to you after a few minutes' thinking. 

4. Consider the list and strike out those that seem 
unavailable, but do not do so without being able to say why 
on second thought you reject them. 

5 . Can any of the rej ected themes be used after modify- 
ing them by variation, addition, or division? 

6. Try to add to the list of fundamental things to write 
about named on pages 70 and 71. 

7. To which of these classes does each of your themes 
(question 3) belong? One may belong to several. 

8. What is ''interest?" Illustrate. 

9. What is *' human interest?" Illustrate. 

10. Try to develop two subjects out of your answers to 
questions 8 and 9. 

11. From a magazine select an article which does not 
seem to come within the avowed scope of that periodical, 
yet which has some justification for its inclusion. Try to 
show why, in a very few words. 



THE FULL-LENGTH ARTICLE 9I 

12. Try to express in two short sentences the respective 
tones of two divergent magazines. 

13. To what sort of people does each appeal? 

14. Which is the larger class? 

15. On which of the subjects listed on pages 74 to 77 
are you prepared to write, either by present knowledge or 
by opportunities for research? 

16. Criticise any objectionable opening quoted in this 
chapter. 

17. Amend it. 

18. Criticise the opening of any article from any 
magazine. 

19. Amend it. 

20. After some thought, enlarge the list of subjects 
called for in question 3. 

2 1 . Write original openings for any two. 

22. Analyze, as this chapter is outlined, any suitable 
magazine article. 

23. Make an outline of any article you have already 
written — published or unpublished. 

24. Build an outline for an article you propose to write, 
giving the introduction complete. 

25. For what magazines ought it to be suitable? Why? 

26. Criticise the ending of any magazine article. 

27. Amend it. 

28. Write your own article complete. 



CHAPTER VIII 

HUMOROUS WRITING 

There is no technique of humor as there is of verse^ for 
its forms are as various as life. The writer who needs to 
be told what is humor and what is not was born without a 
certain useful bone. He may lament its absence but he 
can never supply it by much study and analysis. He who 
possesses it may, of course, cultivate it to sensitiveness. 
The most humorous mind, however, may be at a loss to 
understand in what the mirthful consists. Yet, obviously, 
the purpose of this chapter is not to teach the unhumorous 
to write humor; less still is it to announce and expound 
a philosophy of wit and humor. The object of this par- 
ticular study is in harmony with the avowed purpose of the 
entire handbook — to examine theories only so far as they 
are necessary to more successful practice. What, therefore, 
will be attempted now is this: to seek quickly for the 
ultimate basis of the comic so that we may, by an examina- 
tion of the several types of humorous writing — taken 
chiefly from contemporary magazines and papers — see how 
an endless variety of witty and humorous effects may be 
built on this one foundation. 

One other preliminary disclaimer seems necessary. 
After we shall have examined the basis of all mirthful 
notions and seen their limits, no set attempt will be made 
to discriminate between wit and humor, either in theory 
or in the illustrative examples, for in many cases the 



HUMOROUS WRITING 93 

two forms merge — though in others they are distinct 
enough. 

Now these two disavowals of purpose must not be taken 
to mean that it is anything other than important and 
valuable to the finished student of humor to understand 
the philosophy of mirth in all its moods and tenses. I 
merely say that for him there are other books — as may be 
seen in the reading list given in Appendix D. For ages, 
philosophers, from Aristotle and Plato to Sully and 
Bergson, have been tackling the problem, though most of 
them have been more keen in pointing out what is funny 
than in explaining why it is funn}^ 

To know the causes of the laughable — and now I include 
all forms of wit and humor, from pleasantry, facetious- 
ness, word-play, repartee, irony, sarcasm, derision and 
the sardonic, through comedy, farce, burlesque and ex- 
travaganza, to whatever other types the Proteus of fun 
may assume — is to have taken a long step toward facility 
in shaping mirthful ideas for the market. Therefore to 
that inquiry we turn first. 

I. The Basis of the Laughable 

As has been said, a great many attempts have been 
made to segregate the comic germ. "Incongruity," 
"descending incongruity," "degradation," "nullified ex- 
pectation," "inelasticity," the presence of "something 
mechanical in something living" — all these and yet others 
have been put forward as being what Bergson has aptly 
called the leit motif of the comic. To be sure, the pro- 



94 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

ponents of their several theories expand and explain these 
words in such a way as to show them to lie much closer 
to the heart of the laughable than at first appears. Yet 
it has seemed to me that the writer of humor may find 
more help and, if I may venture to say so, a more definitive 
statement in fuller words, something like this: 

The basis of the comic lies in some variation from the 
normal or the expected, sufficient to produce an efect either 
incongruous or surprisingly apt, yet not sufficient to eoccite 
any serious feeling. 

Single examples or even many examples are not enough 
to warrant a generalization. The only way to measure 
the validity of the foregoing statement is to bring it, 
part by part, to the test of actual humor of all known 
kinds. This, obviously, is impracticable here, so we must 
be content with a brief examination of the dictum in 
detail. 

The idea of (a) variation inheres in all humor — a broken 
rope, a stumble, a change of mind, a sudden reversal in 
the flow of ideas, a shift from the figurative to the literal, 
or the serious to the trivial, or the mental to the bodily. 
Examples will arise to infinity. A perfectly straight course 
pursued normally by a normal being to the end and with- 
out interruption can never be funny. Indeed, it can not 
be even interesting, as readers of plotless novels constantly 
find out. 

(b) Unexpected variation is another quality which in- 
heres in the humorous — that is, it must be unexpected to 
the victim, and sometimes also to the spectator, though 
the very essence of the comic may lie in seeing the victim 



HUMOROUS WRITING 95 

march blithely on to his prepared Waterloo — "A School 
for Scandal" furnished a historic instance. 

But (c) the extent of the variation from the normal, or the 
expected — for not all expected outcomes are normal — 
governs the humorous absolutely. Here we must note 
three things: The variation must be suJQ&cient to produce 
something (i) incongurous — like a wild clutching at a 
support that is not reachable; or (2) surprisingly apt — 
as the retort in the time-worn pun: "I fell notwithstand- 
mg;" yet (3) not sufficient to produce a serious feeling, 
like that of righteous anger, or pity, or deep contempt. 

Good sense is at once the basis of and the limit to all 
humor. He who lacks a fine perception of " the difference 
between what things are and what they ought to be," as 
the always-to-be-quoted HazHtt expressed it, can never 
write humor. All the way through we shall find that 
mirth is a matter of relationships, of shift, of rigidity 
trying to be flexible, of something shocked into something 
else. 

Let us think of a circle on which four points have been 
marked: 

5. The Serious i 



4 The Contemptible ^ ^k »• The Laughable 




3. The Ridiculous 



96 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Beginning with a serious idea, we may swiftly step from 
point to point until we return to the serious, with only 
slight variations from the original conception. Take the 
perennial comedy-theme of the impish collar, and visualize 
the scenes: 

1. A man starts to button his collar. Nothing is less 
comical, so long as the operation proceeds normally. 

2. But the button is too large and his efforts begin to 
exasperate him, with the result that his expression and 
movements become incongruous. We see, and laugh — 
though he does not. 

3. He begins to hop around in a mad attempt to button 
the unbuttonable, and soon rips off the collar, addressing 
it in unparliamentary language. He is ludicrous, ridicu- 
lous, absurd. 

4. In his rage he violently kicks a pet dog that comes 
wagging up to him. Our laughter subsides, for the fellow 
is more contemptible than amusing — a deeper feeling has 
been born in us. 

5. The little dog limps off with a broken leg — we are 
no longer amused, we are indignant. What is more, not 
only have we gotten back to the serious, but there is no 
amusement left in any of the previous scenes. 

Still applying the test of the extent of the variation from 
the normal as shown in the effects, we conclude that 
serious consequences kill humor. The mere idea of 
such consequences, when we know that in the circum- 
stances they are really impossible, may convulse us with 
merriment, as when we see a comedian jab a long finger 
into the mouth of his teammate and the latter chews it 



HUMOROUS WRITING 97 

savagely. In real life this might sicken us with disgust — I 
say *' might," because we can easily conceive of such a 
situation's exciting laughter if the victim were well de- 
serving of the punishment. It is human for us to laugh 
when the biter is bit; indeed, variations on this theme are 
endless in himaorous writing. 

Sjrmpathy also kills humor. The moment that we begin 
to pity the victim of a joke — for humor has much to do 

th victims — our laughter dies away. Therefore the 
subject of the joke must not be one for whose distress we 
feel strong sympathy. The thing that happens to a fop 
is quite different in effect from that which affects a sweet 
old lady. True, we often laugh at those — or at those 
ideas — with whom or with which we are in sympathy, but 
in such an instance the ludicrous for the moment over- 
whelms our sympathy — and sometimes even destroys it. 

Once let an editor feel that we are lacking in justice, 
humanity, sympathy, generosity, and a sense of what is 
right, and our supposed jest is rejected. It requires the 
good sense which we have seen lying beneath the idea of 
the comic to know what subjects to let alone when jesting, 
for it is idle to say that we may not make fun with serious 
matters. We are constantly doing so, and doing so most 
usefully, for too much reverence is the foe of progress. It 
is in itself funny to be too serious. The inexcusable thing 
is to turn serious or sacred matters to ridicule without 
thereby enforcing a counter truth which has been neglected. 

The political cartoon furnishes an example in point. 
The drawing may serve to elevate the true presidential 
idea by depicting a bumptious chief executive as trying to 



98 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

sit down on Uncle Sam, whereas it would be mere vilifica- 
tion to picture him as spitting on Congress. We respect 
the judiciary, yet it might be ludicrous to see a judge pay- 
ing more attention to a legal precedent than to the work- 
ing of justice, and it would be a mild and wholesome cor- 
rective for society to laugh such a judge out of his folly. 

Serious matters pressed to extremes thus lend themselves 
to humor, but more to wit, which laughs at the victim, not 
with him, as often has been said; for wit is a rapier, while 
humor is the wind that may sting without wounding. 
When Mark Twain says of a certain character, ''He was 
a good man, though he was a clergyman," we chuckle at 
his wit, whether we sympathize much or little with the 
clergy as a class. The sly innuendo makes a sudden break 
in a normal course of the thought, with a resultant idea 
which is either incongruous or surprisingly apt — according 
to our viewpoint. When a wag said that Phillips Brooks 
was ''an Episcopalian with a leaning toward Christianity" 
he may have been unjust to the Bishop, to the Church, 
or to Christianity — or to all or to none. The witty remark 
nevertheless sets one to thinking toward a conclusion 
suitable to his own temper. 

When looking for laughter-provoking material it is well 
to remember that there are 

2. Six Kinds of Humor 

Under these general groups all mirthful notions may be 
grouped: 

(a) Form, as a funny face. 



HUMOROUS WRITING 99 

(b) Movement, as ludicrous gestures. 

(c) Situation, as a fat man treed by a playful but seem- 
ingly fierce dog. 

(d) Character, as an absent-minded scholar. 

(e) Idea, as when Mark Twain said, "Be good and you 
will be lonesome." 

(f) WordfSis: He was a virtuous rogue, with damnably 
good habits. 

It is plain at once that all these sorts freely interpene- 
trate. In the briefest forms of humorous writings they 
of course are seen singly, yet when two or more are com- 
bined we find the humor increasing. The man of funny 
face will, let us say, move comically, get into laughable 
situations, and reveal his oddities of character by his 
ludicrous ideas and his droll words — here we have the six 
forms combined. 

J. The Common Types of Humorous Writing 

(a) The Epigram is a bright thought compacted into a 
single detached sentence — the briefer the better. Wit is 
its body, and sting is in its tail. Satire, irony, even the 
sardonic, chooses the epigram for its own. 

The epigram may be sold singly or in related groups, 
and occasionally epigrammatists like Minna Thomas An- 
trim attain to book pubHcation. Mrs. Antrim's epigrams 
make up at least a dozen bright little volumes.^ 

Antithesis, the witty revelation of an unsuspected like- 
ness, and sudden contrast, are the bases of most epigrams, 

1 Most of them are published by Altemus, Philadelphia. 



lOO WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

as when Dr. C. H. Parkhurst thus opened the famous 
sermon in which he paid his respects to Tammany Hall: 

The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but they make better 
time when someone is after them. 

The foregoing example also illustrates a common epi- 
grammatic form — the expanded aphorism. Here is a more 
recent example from Puck: 

COMPENSATION 

A rolling stone gathers no moss, but it gets so smooth that 
nobody has anything on it. 

Akin to this type is this twisted aphorism from Life: 
Talkers rush in where thinkers fear to tread. 

The most difficult epigram, however, and probably the 
most salable, is the purely original quip : 

It is hard lines to hear a witty fellow say the very thing you 
have been trying to say. — LippincoU's. 

(b) The Anecdote is a short incident illustrating a definite 
point, told of a real or a fictitious person.^ Its humor is 
chiefly that of character and of situation. Two hundred 
words may safely be taken as its extreme of length, and 
if the story can be compressed within one hundred, it is 
by so much the better. 

1 Professor Henri Bergson in his valuable essay, Laughter, has 
called attention to the fact that all humor has to do with human 
beings. " Several have defined man as ' an animal which laughs.' 
They might equally well have defined him as an animal which is 
laughed at; for if any other animal, or some lifeless object, pro- 
duces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance 
to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to." 



HUMOROUS WRITING lOI 

It is a fashion nowadays to concoct or even revamp 
anecdotes and attach to them the names of persons in the 
public eye. If the story is a good one the alleged originator 
does not rise to object. Doubtless many a stodgy states- 
man has in this way passed for a wit. 

Four vital things must be kept in mind by anecdote 
writers: 

(i) Not one word may be wasted in preliminaries not 
absolutely needed to lay the foundation for the point. 

(2) The preliminaries must not give away the point. 

(3) The surprising point must come suddenly. (4) The 
point must be so good that it will upon reflection justify 
the preliminaries. 

A pointless anecdote is not an anecdote, it is a bore. 

TEE BEST COURSE 

At the Lambs Club one night a player whose conceit is in 
inverse ratio to his ability was complaining to William Collier 
that, by reason of the curious hostility of the critics, he was unable 
to obtain a lucrative engagement. 

"What do they say?" asked Collier. 

"That's just it — they don't say anything about me. I tell 
you there is a conspiracy of silence against me. What would 
you do?" 

"Join it," advised Collier. — Lippincolfs. 

TOO GOOD TO BE WASTED 

A lady of great beauty and attractiveness, who was an ardent 
admirer of Ireland, once crowned her praise of it at a party by 
saying : 

"I think I was meant for an Irishwoman." 

"Madam," rejoined a witty son of Erin, "thousands would 
back me in saying you were meant for an Irishman." — Tit-Bits. 



I02 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Besides being examples of pure wit, the foregoing 
anecdotes are told in what may be called the simple style. 
Here is one which is in the compound form: 

The son of Professor Ormond, of Oxford, was about to be mar- 
ried, and father and son had come to the door of their home to 
greet the groomsman, who was arriving from London. Just as 
the young man reached the top step he slipped and fell. 

"Why, my boy, that's too bad! How did you come to fall?" 
asked the professor anxiously. 

"By Jove, Sir, I didn't come to fall," laughed the young man, 
"I came to stand up with your son." 

The professor was so much tickled by the retort that he told 
the incident next day at the Faculty Club. "That young beggar 
is witty," said he. "When I asked him how he came to fall, what 
do you think he said? ' Jove, Sir,* said he, * I didn't intend to fall 
at all — I came to be your son's groomsman.' Ah — Eh — or words 
to that effect." 

If you purpose writing anecdotes it would be quite 
worth while to make cuttings of a number of anecdotes so 
as to study the various ways in which they are told. The 
variety of devices used to bring out the point effectively 
may prove not only surprising but helpful in suggesting 
new styles for story-telling. Manner is as important here 
as matter. A few cleverly told anecdotes begin at the 
beginning; most do not; but all good ones end at the end. 
If you feel like adding a moral or a homily, don't. It is 
far better to suggest your lesson, if you have one, and let 
the climax of the story drive home the point, as in the 
following from LippincoWs: 

TEE HOBOES NEED A UNION 

A man who insists upon starting his "help" to work too early 
in the mornings is justly an object of suspicion. 



HUMOROUS WRITING I03 

Last summer a Connecticut farmer was approached by a 
tramp who asked for something to eat and a night's lodging. It 
was pretty well toward evening and the work was all done, so 
the farmer gave the man his supper and sent him to the barn to 
sleep, with the understanding that the hobo was to be called 
next morning in time to work out his "keep." 

About half -past three the farmer routed him out. 

"What's all this, boss?" murmured the tramp, rubbing his 
eyes. 

"Time to get up and work." 

"What doing?" 

"We're going to reap." 

"Reap what?" 

"Oats." 

"Are they wild oats, boss?" 

"Wildcats? No, of course not. Why?" 

"Well, boss, if they ain't wild oats, why do you have to sneak 
up on 'em like this in the dark? " 

(c) Various Forms of Short Jests. Here I shall want to 
give many more examples illustrating different kinks in 
the laughable than are cited under the headings preceding 
and following, for the reason that the short joke or jest 
admits of expansion in so many instances that the same 
basis of variation from the normal or the expected to the 
point of incongruity or surprising aptness will be found 
in the funny plot in comedy and fiction, and in the hvunor- 
ous article, as in the witticism and the joke. It will doubt- 
less be enough in most instances to call attention to the 
form of the twist, without comment — and this solely for 
the purpose of stimulating invention, and distinctly not 
with the object of listing all the kinds of jests — for they 
are legion. Now and then time-worn jokes have been 
selected as being more typically exemplar than newer ones 



I04 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

— if such there be! Often one joke will serve to illustrate 
more than one twist. 

Incongruous disparity between cause and effect 

AN EXPLANATION 
Thix wax the laxt article in thix ixxue to be xet up, and juxt 
ax the type xetter attacked it he broke the matrix for a certain 
letter. It ix not eaxy to xpecify it, but we may xay that it xtandx 
between r and t in the alphabet. He found an extra x, however, 
xo he xupplied the mixxing letter by making thix ridiculoux 
xubxtitution. Pleaxe excuxe thix embarraxxing xituation. It 
ix perhapx fortunate that we have no xpace to xay more. 

Incongruity of paradox 

The more I think of that man the less I think of him. 

— Charles Lamb. 

Incongruity from unreasonableness 

When General D. McM. Gregg was asked to be a candidate 
for the Mayoralty of Reading, Pa., he said: "No, gentlemen, I 
can't — they would charge my father with being a horse thief; 
and the worst of it is that they would prove it." 

Incongruity from sudden contrast 

A timid mouse that lived in a cellar was in mortal fear of the 
huge house cat. One day the mouse chanced upon a wine barrel, 
leaking at the bung. She cautiously dipped one paw in the rich 
fluid, licked it, and then began to take notice. She dipped in the 
other paw, licked it, and felt more enthusiastic. After several 
more samples she rolled over and over in the pool of wine and 
licked herself off happily. Then suddenly she started up the 
cellar stairs, saying: "Now where the — — is that cat!" 

Incongruity from transposed letters in words 

A TRIAL OF FAITH 

A pastor in western Pennsylvania, who until recently was a 
believer in the literal answer to prayer, is now, with some trepida- 



HUMOROUS WRITING 105 

tion, taking stock of his faith. Not long ago a visiting fellow- 
clergyman prayed fervently in his pulpit to this effect : 

"May the brother who ministers to this flock be filled full of 
fresh veal and new zigor." 

The startled pastor says that he doesn't object to fresh veal 
in moderation, but does object to having one of these new break- 
fast-foods forced upon him. — Harper's Magazine. 

Incongruity from discovering needless effort 

A woman wound her clock every night for nine years and then 
discovered that it was an eight-day clock. 

Contrast this with the serious feeling one experiences on 
learning the denouement of Maupassant's ''The Necklace." 

Incongruity of farcical tone 

Enter Hamlet 

PoLONius: Your majesty, yonder comes Hamlet. 

The King: Ah, he knows I croaked his old m.an! 

— Miss Hamlet. 

Incongruity from suddenly facing the impossible 

"By ginger," said the farmer, "do the cheeky fellers that sur- 
veyed the new railroad right through my double barn think I'm 
a-goin' to stand out thar an' open an' shet the doors ev'ry time 
one o' their dum trains come along? " 

Incongruity from suddenly facing the embarrassing or 
the improper 

SHAME ON UNCLE! 

Bobby: "My Uncle Sam keeps squabs. Do you know what 

squabs are?" 

Tommy: "Yes, I do. It's what the Injuns call their wives." 
Bn.LY: "No, 'tain't neither, it's what my Uncle Hen chases 

when he hunts in New York." 

Incongruity from suddenly facing the unaccountable 

A countryman, who had stood a long while facing a circus 



Io6 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

poster showing a giraffe, suddenly turned away with the disgusted 
remark: "Shucks, there ain't no such animule!" 

Incongruity of accumulated difficulties 
TELLING HIM 

Small Boy: "Good fishin'?" "Yes sir; ye go down that 
private road till ye come to th' sign ' Trespassers Will Be Prose- 
cuted,' cross the field with th' bull in it an' you'll see a sign 'No 
Fishing Allowed' — that's it." — Life. 

The surprise of fitness, or congruity 
REASON ENOUGH 

Harold: "What are you picking on me for? I didn't do 
anything!" 

Mickey: "Ye don't have t' do nuthin'. It's yer looks that 
gits me goat." — Judge. 

The intentional twist of meaning 

HIS HANDICAP 
First Reporter: "Senator BuUyun must have been a bright 

baby." 

Second Reporter: "Why do you think so?" 

First Reporter: "He told me in an interview that he began 

life as a schoolteacher." — Indianapolis Star. 

The absent-minded blunder 

OUT OF ORDER 

Proverbial Absent-Minded Professor: "Goodness! That 
clock needs fixing. It just struck one, four times." 

—Harvard Lampoon. 

The blimder of presumptuous ignorance 
SHARP EYES 

First Lady: "That's one of them Australian soldiers." 
Second Lady: "How do you know?" 

First Lady: "Why, can't you see the kangaroo feathers in 
his hat?" — Punch. 



HUMOROUS WRITING I07 

The blunder of simple ignorance 
TRUSTING 

The violin was made in 1626 by Fecit Anno Domini. Proof of 
the date is to be seen on an age- worn paper inside of the case. 

— Valparaiso {Ind.) Vidette, 

The unintentional thrust 

HE LOOKED IT 

The governor's wife was telHng Bridget about her husband. 

"My husband, Bridget," she said proudly, "is the head of the 
state militia." 

" Oi t'ought as much, ma'am," said Bridget cheerfully. "Ain't 
he got the foine malicious look?" — Southern Woman's Magazine. 

The truth ignorantly spoken 

Johnny (to his sister's admirer): "Say, Mr. Barton, I'd like 
to see you drink." 
Barton: "Why, Johnny?" 
Johnny: "Brother says you drink like a fish." 

The blunder from literalness 

POLITE BUT FIRM 

Mrs. N. was giving instructions to her new servant: "Before 
removing the soup-plates, Mary, always ask each person if he 
or she would like any more." 

"Very good, madam." 

Next day Mary, respectfully bowing to one of the guests, 
inquired, "Would the gentleman like some more soup?" 

"Yes, please." 

"There ain't any left." — Chicago Journal. 

The blimder of simplicity 

SPEEDING IT ON 

The musketry-instructor had just been giving a lesson on the 
rifle to one particularly "green" set of recruits. At the end he 
asked: " Now, is there any question you want to ask? " 



I08 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

One dull-looking Johnny Raw stept forward, blushing awk- 
wardly. 

"Yes, my man?" said the instructor, encouragingly. 

"Plaze, sor," stammered the searcher after knowledge, "is it 
roight that the harder Oi pull the trigger-thing the farder the 
bullet goes?" — Tit-Bits. 

Naive over-seriousness 

Girl praying: "Excuse me, O Lord, there's the 'phone." 

—Life. 
Surprising obviousness, with local satire 

HOW SHE DID IT 

The latest Boston story is about a small child who fell out of a 
window. A kind-hearted lady came hurrying up with the anxious 
question, "Dear, dear! How did you fall?" 

The child looked up at the questioner and replied, in a voice 
choked with sobs, "Vertically, ma'am." — Tit-Bits. 

An unexpected truth 

HE KNEW 

"Do you know where the little boys go who don't put their 
Sunday School money in the plate? " 

" Yes'm — to the movies." — Williams Purple Cow. 

Transposed moral ideas 

"Well, you did steal it, didn't you?" 

"No! Do you think I'd sell my character for such a small 
sum!" 

Anachronism of incidents 

Bill Nye's "Comic History of the United States." 

Surprise from lapse of memory 

A clergyman was addressing an informal gathering at which the 
Bishop was present on the platform. 

"My brethren," said the minister, "on this subject our good 
Bishop made a remark to me yesterday that I shall never forget. 
It impressed me most profoundly. He said ." 



HUMOROUS WRITING lOQ 

Then after a moment's painful hesitation he turned to the 
Bishop with an agonized stage-whisper: "For pity's sake, 
Bishop, what was that you said yesterday?" 

Naive inference 

EIS AFFLICTION 

A teacher had told a class of juvenile pupils that Milton, the 
poet, was blind. The next day she asked if any of them could 
remember what Milton's great affliction was. "Yes'm," replied 
one little fellow; "he was a poet." — Argonaut. 

Unintentional inference from a mistake 

WHY SOME MEN ARE SINGLE 

A. O. Lundquist, who was married three weeks ago, is able to 
be out again and will likely be able to assume his duties as carpen- 
ter and contractor soon. — The Montezuma {Colo.) Journal. 

Direct unexpected inference — double entendre 
A HINT 

Stage-Manager: "My dear, I wish you would wear a dif- 
ferent gown in the second act." 

Rita Raven yelp: "But that is the latest style, and I paid 
two hundred dollars for it." 

Stage-Manager: "That may be true, but when your hus- 
band says: 'Woman, you are hiding something from me,' the 
audience can't figure out what he means." — Judge. 

Satirical inference 

COURAGEOUS 

"One wife too many!" exclaimed Mrs.Wederly, as she glanced 
at the headlines of her husband's paper, "I suppose that is an 
account of the doings of some bigamist?" 

"Not necessarily, my dear," replied her husband, without 
daring to look up. — Buffalo Courier. 

The rebuke by inference 

Sexton: "Dogs are not admitted here, sir." 
Visitor: "That's not my dog." 



no WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Sexton: "Not your dog? Why, he's following you." 
Visitor: "Well, so are you." 

The alleged misunderstanding 

A LEFT-HAND STAB 

Physics Instructor: "Name the unit of power, Mr. Jones." 

Jones (waking up) : "The what?" 

Instructor: "Correct. ^ Any questions? All right. We have 
a few minutes before the end of the hour in which we wiU do this 
problem: A man on a bicycle approaches a four-per-cent grade; 
how far has he come and will he have to get off and walk? " 

— Cornell Widow. 

The twist based on a foible 

NouNETTE : "This is my newest dress, how do you like it? " 
Gabrielle : "It's beautiful, I had one exactly like it last year. ' ' 

— Puck. 

Inversion of words and ideas 

An old Scotchman was standing with his dog before a stall of 
sea food. Suddenly he heard a wild yelp and turned to see his 
dog streaking down street with a lobster nipped to his tail. 

"Mon, mon!" cried the dealer, "he's gangin' awa' wi' ane o' 
my lobsters ! Whustle back yer dog, mon, whustle back yer dog ! ' * 

"Hoots, mon," said the other angrily, "whustle back yer 
lobster." 

The " bull " 

Our specialty is to do the thing that has never been done before 
and do it better. 

The humor of word 

WAR TALK 

Waiter: "And will you take macaroni au gratin, sir?" 
Captain of Artillery: "No macaroni — by gad. It's too 
doocid difficult to mobilize. — London Opinion. 



HUMOROUS WRITING III 

The verbal twist 

WELL, WHY NOT? 

"Pop, what is a fortification?" 
"A fortification, my boy, is a big fort." 
"Then a ratification is a big" — 
"Willie, go to bed at once!" — Judge, 

Word-play based on reciprocal words 

"What do you charge for your rooms?" 

"Five dollars up." 

"But I'm a student — " 

"Then it's five dollars down." — Cornell Widow. 

Word-play based on equivocal words 

SOLICITUDE REWARDED 

Lady Bountiful (to dry-goods clerk): "Have you any nice 
warm underclothing?" 

New Assistant: "Oh yes, miss, thank you. — London Opinion. 

Pun based on words of similar sound 

A BETTER SCHEME 

She: "What did you think of our scheme for Christmas 
decoration — holly-leaves over laurel?" 

He: "Well, I should have preferred mistletoe over yew." 

—Tit-Bits. 

Pun based on different words with similar spelling 

She: "I can't see what Mae has in common with young 
Highroller." 

He: "She's a grass widow and he's a rake. — Judge. 

Pun based on eqivocal meanings of one word 
NO LIMIT 

Mrs. Newlywed: "I want a cook, but she must be capable." 
Head of Employment Agency: "Madam, I have several on 
my books capable of anything." — Judge. 



112 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

The naive and surprising confession 

ONLY A "RING OFF'' 

"Auntie, did you ever have a proposal?" 
"Once, dear. A gentleman asked me to marry him over the 
telephone, but he had the wrong number." — Harper's, 

The apt child-retort 

FUTURE THEOLOGIAN 

"Bobby, do 3^ou know you've deliberately broken the eighth 
commandment by stealing James's candy?" 

"Well, I thought I might as well break the eighth com- 
mandment and have the candy as to break the tenth and only 
* covet * it. ' ' — Life, 

The witty retort 

HANDICAPPED 

With but three minutes to catch his train, the traveling sales- 
man inquired of the street-car conductor, "Can't you go faster 
than this?" 

"Yes," the bell-ringer replied, "but I have to stay with m.y 
car." — Harper's. 

The quandary 

RATHER DIFFICULT 

Cheerful One (to newcomer, on being asked what the 
trenches are like) : "If yer stands up yer get sniped; if yer keeps 
down yer gets drowned; if yer moves about yer gets shelled; 
and if yer stands still yer gets court-martialed for frost-bite." 

— Punch. 

Satire 

THE SECRET 

"What is an amateur?" is still one of the raging queries of the 
hour. But, in spite of all the recent discussion, we haven't 
changed the answer we evolved four years ago, viz., "Any one 
who can get away with it." — New York Tribune. 



HUMOROUS WRITING II3 

(d) Humorous articles are so various, and so often colored 
by the demands of particular magazines, that scarcely 
anything helpful can be said here, more than to direct 
attention to the importance of observing carefully three 
things before submitting material to a magazine: study 
the literary standard maintained, the tone evidently pre- 
ferred by the editor (whether satirical, rollicking, subtle, 
timely, political, social, or what not), and the average 
length of material used. These considerations apply 
especially to Life^ Judge, Fuck, Vanity Fair, and other 
magazines devoted largely to humor. Restrictions of 
literary quality and length are not of quite so much im- 
portance in submitting material to the newspapers, yet 
they must be weighed well there also. 

(e) Humorous fiction, as has already been said, uses the 
same fundamental ideas as are found in the jest, yet 
obviously the methods are quite different. All the six 
types of humor have full play in the story, particularly 
humor of situation, of character, of idea, and of word. 
Plot is, of course, the prime requisite. Given a really 
humorous situation, and the chances for the story are very 
good indeed. 

Since fiction in general is reserved for treatment in a 
later chapter, only a few more words need here be said. 
Two considerations are large in importance : when humor 
is mingled -with, sentiment the largest public is appealed to; 
and, it is not well to over-weight a story with humor, 
particularly with farce — it may become silly. Contrast 
is the secret of good humorous work — contrast of char- 
acter with character, situation with situation, language 



114 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

with language, setting with setting — and each with the 
other, 

4. Hints on Methods of Work 

Study the materials and the methods of successful 
humorists, but do not be tempted to re-vamp their jests. 
Analysis of the work of others will pay you, but in your 
note-book set down, not their ideas, but the ideas their 
writings call out from your own mind. 

Most humorous writing is done backwards — that is, the 
point is first decided on, then the epigram, anecdote, jest, 
article, or story is built up so as to lead naturally, swiftly 
and surprisingly to the pre-conceived climax. 

Less and less hiunor of the slap-stick, or rough, farcical 
type, is used, and more of the subtle sort. For this reason 
inference is a much-used method, and sparkling brevity 
most desirable. 

Give careful attention to the titles of your anecdotes, 
jests and articles. Many seen in print are vapid; for 
proof, read the titles quoted in this chapter — some are 
very weak. Or scrutinize the magazines and newspapers 
— the same criticism applies. The title to a humorous 
piece should be crisp, suggestive, apt, yet not so explicit 
as to forecast the point, or outcome. 

Practice variety of presentation. The old "Bud and 
Scud" and ''Mrs. Hashleigh," ''He and She," and similar 
hoary schemes will, I suppose, always be used, but that 
supplies no excuse for failure to seek for something 
fresher. 

Practice in highly compressed dialogue is essential. Let 



HUMOROUS WRITING II5 

what the characters say suggest what they are — do not 
simply tell about them. 

Use description most sparingly, and when you do de- 
scribe a character let it be by a single all-inclusive sentence, 
if in a story; or by nouns (substantives) rather than by 
adjectives, if in an anecdote. Ten needless words can kill 
five hundred well-chosen ones. 

In basing a jest, an anecdote, or a story on a humorous 
character, set the character in motion promptly — not 
necessarily physical motion, but moving with or against 
the forces and characters of the piece you are writing. It 
is the direction and the changes of direction which a char- 
acter takes that govern his humorous effect on the reader. 
Sunple normality never produces a comic effect. This is 
worth repeating. 

Exaggeration and restrained character burlesque is a 
method much used by the funny men. In humor we are 
interested chiefly in the things that make characters or 
situations different from all others. We already know the 
things that make them alike. Equivocal actions and 
situations, men working while unconscious that they are 
being observed, natural and unforced misunderstandings, 
characteristic repetitions of habits and words (used spar- 
ingly and at critical moments), seriousness when others 
are amused, traits of character rather than mere eccentrici- 
ties of body and dress, twisted yet ingeniously specious rea- 
soning, lovable foibles, something amusingly "mechanical 
encrusted upon the living," together with struggle, all the 
time struggle — these are the things that make humor humor. 

Mirth-provoking ideas are everywhere. Today as I was 



Il6 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

writing these lines, by some quirk an alarm clock began to 
sound in another room. In a minute it sounded again. 
Then again. It became laughable. Then a member of 
the household began futile efforts (two big words in humor) 
to make it keep quiet. But it refused until the spring had 
run down — yet by simply pushing a lever it might have 
been stopped at once. A humorist would invent any num- 
ber of increasingly fimny efforts to stop an alarm clock 
which persisted in going off at all sorts of untoward times. 
The tendency, of course, is to do this sort of thing 
merely as a sketch — it will have ten times the market value 
when worked into a plot, with enough other action to save 
it from being a mere funny picture. This qualification is 
vital. 

5. Markets for Humor 

The final chapter of this book is given to the matter of 
marketing magazine material, yet here an important 
caution must be given: Do not aim solely, or even chiefly, 
at the magazines. With a very few exceptions, all humor- 
ists have made their public entry through the newspapers. 
Though many dailies buy only a paste pot and a pair of 
shears, many others purchase all sorts of comic material. 
If you can sketch, that will help, but it is not necessary. 
The main thing is to produce fresh material of as many 
kinds as you can, and keep on sending it out with as much 
discrimination as you can muster. 

Do not send more than half-a-dozen anecdotes or jokes 
at a time. Send not only to dailies but also to Sunday 
papers, syndicates and all the magazines that use such 



HUMOROUS WRITING II 7 

matter. You will soon learn which ones pay and which 
do not — for positively no one can save you the pangs of 
giving birth to experience. 

The most marketable thing in the world is a fresh idea. 
George Ade and Walt Mason and Bill Nye and every press 
humorist who ever came to the front — each was not only 
able to write good humorous stuff but produced a line of 
material stamped with his own peculiar quality. But none 
of them began by being famous. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Why is it difficult to define the comic and related 
forms? 

2. Criticise the author's definition. 

3. Can you cite any attempt at humor that failed 
because it too nearly approached the serious? 

4. What do people mean when they say, *' I don't know 
whether to laugh or cry? " 

5. Invent five stages, in the manner of the example 
given on page 96, from one of these situations: {a) A 
man falls through a ceiling into a bed room; {h) A man 
tries to climb a tree; {c) A boy steals away to swim. 

6. Name a comic stage-incident which would have 
been too serious to laugh at in real life, and say why. 

7. What effect on written humor does an air of deep 
sincerity in the writer have? 

8. Discuss the himaor of any one of the following: 
George Ade, Stephen Leacock, Irvin Cobb, Jerome K. 
Jerome, W. W. Jacobs, Mark Twain, any other well-known 
humorist. 



Il8 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

9. What is the difference between comedy and farce? 

10. Give one short example each of himior and wit. 

11. Try to show briefly how they differ. 

12. Give one original example each of the six kinds of 
humor (page 98) — no matter if any one merges into wit. 

13. Expand any one of them into a short magazine or 
newspaper offering. 

14. Clip at least five varieties of newspaper humor and 
name each. 

15. Write something in the style of any one of these 
cuttings, but imitate the original in matter as little as 
possible. 

16. Write either two original epigrams or one anecdote. 

17. If you choose the epigram, recast it in two different 
styles; if you choose the anecdote, recast it in four styles, 
somewhat after the manner of the anecdotes given in the 
text. 

18. Write three jests, saying what points they illustrate. 
If you prefer, take points not illustrated in this chapter, 
for there are many. 

19. Criticise any of the titles of jests quoted in this 
chapter. 

20. Suggest a better title for each weak one. 

21. Invent titles for three jests in this chapter which 
have no titles. 

22. Make an analysis of any humorous article you 
please. 

23. Criticise favorably or unfavorably the humor in any 
magazine story. 



CHAPTER IX 



MAGAZINE POETRY 

It is of course not within the scope of this work to enter 
into the theory of poetry and the rules of versification/ 
but merely to point out the character and the limits of 
magazine verse and suggest some practical ways for mak- 
ing the most of one's poetic gifts. 

A greatly awakened interest in poetry is now manifest. 
Not only are volumes of collected verse increasing in num- 
ber, and in sales for each worthy volume, but the subject 
is being studied more than ever before, both by writers 
and by readers. Magazines not only precede but follow 
books in the culture of public taste. Just which is pre- 
eminent in leadership it is difficult to say, but certainly 
the magazines have educated the people to look for and 
value a better grade of poetry in the collected works of 
present-day poets. 

Several magazines which have lately appeared — notably 
Poetry, Chicago, The Poetry Journal, Boston, and The 
Poetry Review, Cambridge, Mass. — are devoted exclusively 
to this subject. As might be supposed, these little periodi- 
cals are less restrained by the demands of popularity than 
are the other magazines, so it will hardly be valuable to 
analyze their contents. "Anything good" is what the 

1 The Art of Versification, by J. Berg Esenwein and Mary- 
Eleanor Roberts, published uniform with this volume in "The 
Writer's Library," is a complete treatise on both poetry and 
versification. 



I20 



WRITING rOR THE MAGAZINES 



editors want — and this open door will do much to encour- 
age poets who chafe under the requirements of brevity, 
broad appeal, and the agreeable, which hedge about 
virtually all the other journals. 



I. Length 

Merit aside, for that is an ever-present prerequisite, 
length is naturally the one great bar that stands before the 
poet who would enter the magazine gates. Only now and 
then do we find a ''long" poem — by which, for magazine 
uses, I mean one of, say, 64 lines. Indeed, the average 
length of 305 poems, found in examining 99 issues of 34 
different (19 16) magazines was slightly over 25 lines. In 
considering this average it is important to remember that 
it is materially raised by the inclusion of six poems which 
range from 95 to 458 lines each. By omitting these from 
the calculation the average would drop to about 20 lines, 
so that a poem of 24 lines may be taken as above the 
average of present-day popularity in length and a good 
poem of 16 lines, or less, has an even greater chance of 
being accepted. 

Average Length or 305 Magazine Poems 



Name of Magazine 


Issues 
Examined 


Number 
of Poems 


Average 
Length 


Argosy 

Atlantic Monthly 

Bookman 


3 
3 
2 

3 


13 
6 

4 

I 


18 

32 
18 


Canada MoNTHLYf 


8 



MAGAZINE POETRY 



121 



Name of Magazine 



Century 

Christian Endeavor 

World 

COLLIER'sf 

Cosmopolitan 

Delineator . 
Delineator* 

Designer! 

Everybody's 

Good Housekeeping.. 

Harper's 

Hearst's 

Independent 

Ladies' Home Journal 
Ladies' Home Journal 

McClure's 

Mother's 

Munsey's 

North Am. Review 

Outing 

OuTLOOKf 

Overland ) 

0\rERLAND* ) 

Physical CuxTUREt 

Pictorial Review 

St. Nicholas 

Saturday Evening Postj 

Scribner's 

Smart Set 

Snappy Stories 

Southern Woman's 



Issues 
Examined 



Number 
of Poems 



Average 
Length 



7 

I 

3 
4 
I 

I 
6 
7 

12 

3 

2 

14 

I 

5 
3 

37 

2 

3 
I 

23 
I 
I 
6 

17 
I 

33 

25 



24 

20 
20 

31 
12 

258 
10 
16 

44 
12 

38 

30 
28 
176 
20 
20 
16 
55 
7 
95 
20 

458 

30 
16 
40 

350 
29 

IS 
14 
20 



122 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Name of Magazine 


Issues 
Examined 


Number 
of Poems 


Average 
Length 


System! 

Theatre! 


2 

3 
3 


I 
I 

I 


36 
40 

30 


Woman's Home 

COMPANIONt 



* There is one poem in this group of three issues that is too 
exceptional in length to be considered in the average for this 
magazine; but that poem is included in the grand average. 

t Only one issue examined contained poetry. All that may be 
safely inferred from this fact is that little poetry is used by this 
periodical, for other issues might show a larger number. 



Editors feel that most poems would profit by compres- 
sion. Narrative poetry, to be sure, carries its own justifica- 
tion for length, but in this sort writers show a decided 
tendency to drag in the irrelevant. It is quite aside from 
the purpose of this chapter to discuss the effects of edito- 
rial demands on poetic inspiration; it is enough to note 
that only when the poet's theme is "big" enough to 
command interest, and his mastery of his art sufficiently 
advanced to make every line stand out with beauty or 
power, can he justly assume to fill two or more pages in a 
magazine. 

2. Form 



The first essential of form is to compress much into few 
lines — to send the mind of the reader sweeping out on 
precisely the course the poet wills, thinking and visioning 
the thoughts he has swiftly yet perfectly suggested. For 
this kind of poem there is room in hundreds of periodicals. 



MAGAZINE POETRY 1 23 

If the writer could only conceive and produce them he 
could sell one a day and two on holidays. 

Take this specimen from the pen of Edwin Markham, 
study its wonderful suggestive power, and see why it 
would be preferred to longer verse. 

OUTWITTED^ 

He drew a circle that shut me out — 
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. 
But Love and I had the wit to win: 
We drew a circle that took him in! 

Another mark of current magazine poetry is smoothness 
of form. There are few over-run lines, few rough quantities, 
excellent use of metrical variety, smooth metre and good 
rhyming. 

Still another characteristic is the deft management of 
words. There are few archaisms, few words of classical 
allusion, and very little awkward inversion — in short, 
comparative simplicity of language. 

^. Theme 



Theme offers an illimiinating subject for examination in 
magazine poetry of today. The preferences of each 
magazine must of course be considered by each writer as 
he submits material, but the following table, based on a 
study of the same poems referred to on page 120, will 
show what was current in the early part of 191 6. 

^ From " The Shoes of Happiness, " by Edwin Markham. Copy- 
right, 1916, by Doubleday, Page & Co. Used by the courteous 
permission of the publishers and the author. 



124 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

THEMES OF 305 MAGAZINE POEMS 

Love 66 

Nature 51 

Idealism or Aspiration 49 

Jest 46 

Child Life 21 

War 15 

Reminiscence 10 

Christmas ^ 9 

Friendship 7 

Patriotism : 5 

Sorrow and Death 5 

Human Sympathy 4 

Composite 3 

Reflection and Revery 3 

Animals 2 

Disappointment and Discontent 2 

Persons (Shakespeare) 

Hate 

Ambition 

Legendary 

Business 

Happiness 

Motherhood 



Various inferences may be drawn from the foregoing 
table. The two most obvious ones are plainly contradic- 
tory: Since over seventy-five per cent, of the 305 poems 
considered are on idealistic themes, or deal with nature, or 
with love, or with jest (light verse), or with childhood — 



MAGAZINE POETRY 12$ 

five general themes — we ought to follow these leads; or it 
may be inferred that since so many writers are choosing 
these five themes, we ought to avoid them so as to get 
away from the herd. 

But why accept either ready-made conclusion instead of 
looking beneath the surface? Some suggestive questions, 
which anyone may try to answer for himself, may throw 
light on this matter of theme. 

Do editors accept so many love poems, for example, 
because they judge the people want them, or for the reason 
that so large a number of writers produce that sort? Can 
a poet choose his own themes as deliberately as a general 
writer selects his subjects for articles, or do poem- themes 
choose themselves? Can the maker of verses induce inspi- 
ration to write certain kinds of poems by directing his 
attention toward and thinking deeply — emotionally — 
upon such themes? Do not the more distinguished maga- 
zines print poems on the less hackneyed themes? 

Merely to say that about seventeen per cent, of the 
listed poems have nature-subjects for their themes might 
prove misleading to surface-thinkers. Just as with other 
themes, it is the unusual phase of nature that stands out 
in good poetry. And I use the word "phase " deliberately. 
Young poets who deal with generaHties instead of particu- 
larities do not get into print. ''Unusual," too, needs 
emphasis, for the commonplace treatment of an unusual 
theme is deadly dull, while the unusual handhng of the 
most commonplace subject is pretty sure to win a hearing. 

It is interesting to note how some of these themes are 
distributed among the several magazines examined. Since 



126 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

the list is quite an arbitrary one and might well have 
included periodicals which for one reason or another were 
not available at the time, and also because no more than 
three copies of any one magazine were studied — though 
more were examined — the conclusions must be taken, of 
course, as being indicative rather than final. 

One third of the whole number of examples of light 
verse were found in two issues of Munsey's. As the table 
shows, Life, Puck, and Judge were not examined — light 
verse as a t3^e comes in for separate treatment in the 
next chapter. The light verse of Munsey's, however, is 
not as nonsensical as that of the funny magazines and 
therefore is included in this study. 

Other facts are interesting, though they prove nothing 
conclusively. For instance, the only poem found in 
examining three numbers of The Outlook was one of nearly 
one hundred lines on war. The other fourteen poems on 
war were distributed among ten magazines. The only 
periodicals using two or more were Southern Woman's (3), 
Everybody's (2) and Independent (2). The only poem on 
hate appeared in The Century, and three of the five poems 
dealing with sorrow and death appeared in one issue of 
that periodical. ' 

Taking only this study of 305 poems as a basis, the nine 
largest users of verse are: Munsey's, 37; Smart Set, ^;^; 
Snappy Stories, 25; Overland, 24; Southern Woman's 
Magazine, 23; Century, 20; St, Nicholas, 17; Scribner's, 
15; Ladies' Home Journal, 14; Argosy, 13; Harper's, 12. 
These conclusions will be found to be typical. So will the 
following: The sixty-six poems on love were confined to 



MAGAZINE POETRY 1 27 

Smart Set, 16 \ Snappy Stories, i^\ Munsey^s,g; Overland, 
6; Argosy, 5; Southern Woman's, 4; Harper's, 3; Ladies' 
Home Journal, 3; Century, 2; Mother's, 2; Designer, 1; 
Atlantic, i; and Bookman, i. 

4. Tone 

By far the great majority of poems in our periodicals 
are lyrical. This is largely accounted for by the joint 
facts that our first tendency is to express an emotion in 
terms of personal feeling, and that we are more deeply 
moved when reading a personal expression than when it 
is put in the abstract. Even the sonnet and other artificial 
forms are used for lyrical expression. 

Narrative poems and didactic poems are very rarely 
found in our magazines; and when they are, the narration 
is short, simple, and direct, with merely a touch of the 
didactic conveyed by suggestion and not explicitly. These 
conditions are doubtless due not only to the limitations 
set by the magazines but also to an improved public taste 
in poetry that contemns dwelling upon the obvious. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR VERSIFIERS 

Do not try to write poetry by means of thought alone — 
poetry is chiefly an emotional expression. 

Write on what interests you, and direct your interest 
toward as many things as you can. 

Write on things that come home to the hearts of the 
people. 

Tenderness is better than sharpness; leave the bitter 
themes to someone else. 



128 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Drill in all kinds of verse- writing gives ease in expression. 

Master the meaning and the uses of tone-color. 

Practice all varieties of feet, lines, and stanzas, suiting 
the form to the feeling. When you use an irregularity do 
it intentionally, to gain a certain desirable effect. 

Use few if any unrhymed lines — never use vers lihre 
because you find it difficult to write good meter and 
rhyme.^ 

Use few over-rtm lines. 

Don't sacrifice everything to form. 

Keep within the editor's favorite length limits. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Select from a magazine any form of verse you wish 
and analyze it critically. 

2. Suggest any betterments you can, and show why 
you have made the change. 

3. Set down a theme for an original poem. 

4. What effect do you wish to produce? 

5. After considering various metres, select the one you 
think best suited to the thought and f eehng of your theme. 

6. Write the first rough draft. 

7. Can you condense your set of verses into fewer 
stanzas? Into one? Don't, if you are sure it will injure the 
expression. 

8. Revise it, showing why you made the changes. 

9. To what magazines might your verses be sent? 

^ The Art of Versification contains in its new edition a chapter 
on vers libre. 



CHAPTER X 

LIGHT VERSE 

Light verse^ offers a wider range of form than does real 
poetry, for the parodist may imitate every form known to 
the poets, and the whimsical rhymster will invent new 
conceits every day. 

I. Vers de Societe 

For this broadest and highest-grade group of light verse 
it is difficult to find a precise English equivalent. Vers de 
societe is not merely "society verse," as a literal translation 
would suggest, but short, light, sentimental or playful verse 
of no profound poetic quality, and breathing an air of polite 
knowledge of the world. 

In form vers de societe enjoys wide latitude, though the 
French meters are favorites with most of the poets. 
Thackeray's *'The Ballad of Bouillabaisse," Alfred 
Austin's "At the Lattice," and Longfellow's "Beware," 
are among the most famous specimens in the language. 
Here is a representative example from Lippincotfs — no 
longer published. 

1 This chapter is largely a very compact condensation of the 
chapter (covering sixty-seven pages) on "Light Verse" in The 
Art of Versification, by J. Berg Esenwein and Mary Eleanor 
Roberts, in "The Writer's Library." The verses, quoted from 
that volume, are fully protected by the original copyright, by 
that of The Art of Versification, and by the present copy- 
right. 



I3O- WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

MY CHAPERON 
By Anne Warrington Witherup 

No Dragon is my chaperon ; 

She's fiill of life and charm 
She has a method all her own 

To hold me safe from harm 
It is a method very wise, 

Though simple as can be: 
When men come by she makes such eyes 

They never look at me. 

2, Satirical Verse 

Satire is a form of wit that exposes pretension and makes 
it ridiculous. Its object, like that of true comedy, is to 
instruct by showing the folly of imprudent courses, but 
that purpose is often lost sight of today. 

Ohver Wendell Holmes dealt out wholesome satire to 
the all-bumptious when he wrote this stanza in '' A Familiar 
Letter to Several Correspondents:" 

But remember, O dealer in phrases sonorous. 

So daintily chosen, so tunefully matched. 
Though you soar with the wings of the cherubim o'er us, 

The ovum was human from which you were hatched. 

J. Humorous Verse 

The types of light verse often overlap, and this is most 
true of humorous lines — a statement too obvious to need 
proof. We shall find humor in parody, nonsense rhymes, 
and whimsical verse, just as we find it delicately present in 
much vers de societe. 



LIGHT VERSE I3I 

(a) Punning Verse 

NOMENCLATURE^ 
By Karl von Kraft 

When Bossey invented a gentleman calf 

They called him Monseigneur Boule. 
Next spring when a lady calf dawned on the scene 

They christened her Calfy au Lait. 

(b) Humor of Situation 

THE VOICE OF THE EAST TO THE VOICE OF 
THE WEST^ 

By McLandhurg Wilson 

A most appreciative cuss, 
The Sun gets up to look at us, 
But when he strikes the West instead 
He gets so bored he goes to bed. 

THE VOICE OF THE WEST TO THE VOICE OF 
THE EAST 1 

By Robert Thomas Hardy 

'Tis true that in the East the Sun 

Doth rise, and yet 'tis evident 
He likes it not, but hastens West 

And settles down in sweet content ! 

(c) Dialect Humor 

WHERE THE FUN COMES IN ^ 

By John Kendrick Bangs 

To hev all things, ain't suited to my mind, 
Fer, as I go my way, I seem to find 
That half the fun o' life is wantin' things, 
An' t' other half is gettin' 'em, by Jings! 
1 From LippincoWs, by permission. 



132 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

4, Parody and Travesty 

Parody is mimicry, not serious imitation. It has for its 
object either the casting of more or less good-natured 
ridicule on the original, or merely the convenient use of a 
well-known poem, usually in jest — though light verse may 
be parodied in serious verses. Parody becomes travesty or 
burlesque when carried to the extreme of the ridiculous — 
though burlesque and extravaganza need not parody a 
specific original, but may poke extravagant fun at a general 
type. 

(a) Word-Mimicry 

THE BAT 
By Lewis Carroll 

(After Jane Taylor) 

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! 
How I wonder what you're at! 
* * * * 

Up above the world you fly, 
Like a tea-tray in the sky. 

(b) Form-mimicry 

YE CLERKE OF YE WETHERE 

(After Chaucer) 
A clerke there was, a puissant wight was hee, 
Who of ye wethere hadde ye maisterie; 
Alway it was his mirth and his solace — 
To put each seson's wethere oute of place. 
Whanne that Aprille showres wer our desyre. 
He gad us Julye sonnes as hotte as fyre; 
But sith ye summere togges we donned agayne, 
Eftsoons ye wethere chaunged to cold and rayne. 



LIGHT VERSE I33 

Wo was the pilgrimme who fared forth a-foote, 
Without any gyngham that him list uppe-putte ; 
And gif no mackyntosches eke had hee, 
A parlous state that wight befelle — pardie ! 
We wist not gif it nexte ben colde or hotte, 
Cogswounds! ye barde a grewsome colde hath gotte! 
Certes, that Gierke's one mightie man withalle, 
Let none don him offence, lest ille befalle. 

— Anonymous. 

(c) Sense-rendering 
One stanza only is given from: 

ODE ON A JAR OF PICKLES 

(After Keats) 
By Bayard Taylor 

A sweet, acidulous, down-reaching thrill 

Pervades my sense. I seem to see or hear 
The lushy garden-grounds of Greenwich Hill 

In autumn, where the crispy leaves are sere; 
And odors haunt me of remotest spice 

From the Levant of musky-aired Cathay, 
Or the saffron-fields of Jericho, 

Where everything is nice. 
The more I sniff, the more I swoon away, 

And what else mortal palate craves, forego. 

{d) Semi-Parody 

A REAL SUMMER GIRL^ 

(After Whittier) 

By J. G. Neumarker 

Maud Muller on a summer's day 
Raked the meadow sweet with hay. 
You'd hardly expect a girl, you know, 
In summer time to be shovelling snow. 

^ From LippincoU's, by permission. 



134 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

5. Nonsense Verse 

This type of light verse conveys merely nonsensical 
ideas. The result is sometimes brought about by such 
ingenious verbal inventions as have endeared Lewis 
Carroll and Edward Lear to miUions. Who has not felt 
with conviction that ''a runcible hat" was really worn by 
the charming writer who conceived the term! And who 
has not longed to know the joys of a *' frabjous day!" 
These meaningless words must somewhere be real lan- 
guage, as indeed they have been to the old and young 
children of two generations. 

Then, too, there is a rhythmical appropriateness about 
each nonsense-line by these genuine artists, and those 
written by some of their imitators, which is the sign and 
seal of artistry. Read *' Jabberwocky" aloud and you feel 
the joy of its sound and movement. Then try to substi- 
tute either dictionary words or concoctions of your own, 
and note the loss. 

On many accounts it will pay all poets and rhymesters — 
if any there be so unfortunate as not to know these delights 
— to study the verses in "Alice in Wonderland" and 
"Through a Looking Glass," by Lewis Carroll (Charles 
L. Dodgson), the collected "Nonsense Books" by Edward 
Lear, the "Bab Ballads" by W. S. Gilbert— whose work 
with Sir Arthur Sullivan in their light operas ha s made the 
world their debtor — and "A Nonsense Anthology," by 
Carolyn Wells, with its charming introductory essay. 



LIGHT VERSE I35 

JABBERWOCKY 
By Lewis Carroll 

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; 

All mimsy were the borogoves, 

And the mome raths outgrabe. 

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! 

The jaws that bite, the claws that scratch! 
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun 
The frumious Bandersnatch ! " 

He took his vorpal sword in hand : 

Long time the manxome foe he sought. 

So rested he by the Tumtum tree, 
And stood awhile in thought. 

And as in uffish thought he stood, 

The Jabberwock with eyes of flame 

Came whiffing through the tulgey wood, 
And burbled as it came ! 

One, two! One, two! And through, and through 
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack ! 

He left it dead and with its head 
He went galumphing back. 

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? 

Come to my arms, my beamish boy! 
Oh, frabjous day! Callooh! callay!" 

He chortled in his joy. 

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; 

All mimsy were the borogoves 

And the mome raths outgrabe. 

There are no invented words in the following anonymous 
stanzas from Punch, but only impossible concepts: 



136 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

BALLAD OF BEDLAM 

Oh, lady, wake ! the azure moon 

Is rippling in the verdant skies; 
The owl is warbHng his soft tune, 

Awaiting but thy snowy eyes. 
The joys of future years are past, 

To-morrow's hopes have fled away; 
Still let us love, and e'en at last 

We shall be happy yesterday. 

The early beam of rosy night 

Drives off the ebon morn afar, 
While through the murmur of the light 

The huntsman winds his mad guitar. 
Then, lady, wake! my brigantine 

Pants, neighs and prances to be free; 
Till the creation I am thine. 

To some rich desert fly with me. 

6. The Limerick 

This unique form of stanza was developed by Edward 
Lear, who himself wrote more than two hundred — of 
varying merit — illustrated by his own grotesque drawings, 
which often supplied the humor lacking in the limericks. 
Since then every rhymester has had his passion for limer- 
icks, and clever ones are still popular. In form, they are 
printed either in four lines or five — usually five; four-line 
limericks contain an internal rhyme in the third line, 
which in the five-line limerick is divided so as to make 
lines three and four. 

Here are two examples by Lear — one of four and the 
other of five lines — both of which begin, as do nearly all 
his limericks, with "There was an old — '^ or "There was a 



LIGHT VERSE I37 

young — ." Naturally, variety began to grow diflScult 
after a time, so later rhymesters have been more free and 
thus have done more to improve the humor of the limerick 
than did Mr. Lear himself. 

There was an Old Man with a beard, 

Who said, "It is just as I feared! 

Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren, 

Have all buHt their nests in my beard ! ' ' 

There was an Old Man in a tree. 
Who was terribly bored by a bee; 
When they said, "Does it buzz?" 
He replied, "Yes, it does! 
It's a regular brute of a Bee. " 

Sometimes the limerick is indented — sometimes it is 
not. 

A dentist, whose surname was Moss, 
Fell in love with the charming Miss Ross; 

But he held in abhorrence 

Her Christian name, Florence, 
So he called her his Dental Floss. 

— Carolyn Wells. ^ 

There was a tall Russian named Muski — 

Wumiskiliviskivitchuski : 

You may say his name twice, 

If you think it sounds nice. 

But I bet it will make your voice husky. 

— Harry A. Rothrock.^ 

7. Whimsical Verse 

Of this type there are too many varieties to give example 
here (see footnote on page 129). It need only be noted, 

1 From LippincoU's, by permission. 



138 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

that they take up (a) oddities of conception, such as twists 
of language, mnemonics, mosaic verse, macaronics, 
archaic verse, and dialect whimsicalities; and (b) oddities 
of form J such as verses set in odd shapres (such as trees), 
typographical oddities, acrostics, versified enigmas, alHter- 
ative conceits, *' letter verse," geographical whimsies, 
lipograms, numerical oddities, internal rhymes, prose 
verse (like Walt Mason's), alphabetical stanzas, mono- 
rhymes, chain verse, palindromes, tongue twisters, equivo- 
cal lines, echo verses, anagrams, charades in verse, ''buried 
names, " dithyrambs, and others. 

8. General Observations 

The markets for light verse are very wide indeed — much 
wider than for real poetry. Not only do the comic journals 
and the humor departments of magazines and newspapers 
use this material, but vers de societe is accepted by nearly 
all the magazines that use any verse at all. 

It is easily possible to strain too hard after odd effects. 
Either the genuinely pleasing light-verse touch, or the 
really humorous idea expressed in ordinary metre, is much 
more widely salable than a far-fetched idea expressed in 
the most ingenious form. 

A mastery of good form is really an important matter 
for the writer of light verse, both because the best maga- 
zines insist upon it and for the reason that it prepares one 
for more serious work. 

Mr. Arthur Guiterman, whose verses in Life and other 
journals are deservedly liked, recently gave an interview to 



LIGHT VERSE I39 

Joyce Kilmer for the New York Times. Mr. Guiterman 
believes that the training offered by writing much light 
verse will prove invaluable to even the genuine poet. 
When we remember that most of the great poets of all 
time — among them Aristophanes, Horace, Shakespeare, 
Milton, Coleridge, Burns, Keats, Henley, Mrs. Browning, 
Holmes, Taylor, Longfellow, and Emerson — have written 
delightfully in lighter vein, we are not surprised to find 
those whose names are less glorious frivoling as playfully 
as, in turn, their less serious brothers. 
Mr. Guiterman says: 

I suppose the best thing for the young poet to do would be to 
write on as many subjects as possible, including those of intense 
interest to himself. What interests him intensely is sure to 
interest others, and the number of others whom it interests will 
depend on how close he is by nature to the minds of his place 
and time. He should get some sort of regular work so that he 
need not depend at first upon the sale of his writings. This work 
need not necessarily be literary in character, altho it would be 
advisable for him to get employment in a magazine or newspaper 
office, so that he may get in touch with the conditions governing 
the sale of manuscript. 

He should write on themes suggested by the day's news. He 
should write topical verse ; if there is a poHtical campaign on he 
should write verse bearing upon that; if a great catastrophe 
occurs, he should write about that, but he must not write on 
these subjects in a commonplace manner. 

He should send his verses to the daily papers, for they are the 
publications most interested in topical verse. But also he should 
attempt to sell his work to the magazines, which pay better 
prices than the newspapers. If it is in him to do so, he should 
write humorous verse, for there is always a good market for 
humorous verse that is worth printing. He should look up the- 
publishers of holiday- cards, and submit to them Christmas, 
Thanksgiving, and Easter verses, for which he would receive, 

/ 

I 



I40 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

probably, about $5 apiece. He should write advertising verses, 
and he should, perhaps, make an alliance with some artist with 
whom he can work, each supplementing the work of the other. 

Please understand that our hypothetical poet must all the 
time be doing his own work, writing the sort of verse which he 
specially desires to write. If his pot-boiling is honestly done, it 
will help him with his other work. 

He must study the needs and limitations of the various publi- 
cations. He must recognize the fact that just because he has cer- 
tain powers it does not follow that everything he writes will be 
desired by the editors. Marked ability and market ability are 
different propositions. 

There is high precedent for this course. You asked if I would 
give this advice to the young Keats. Why not, when Shakespeare 
himself followed the line of action of which I spoke? He began as 
a lyric poet, a writer of sonnets. He wrote plays because he saw 
that the demand was for plays, and because he wanted to make a 
living and more than a living. But because he was Shakespeare 
his plays are what they are. 

Don't think of yourself as a poet, and don't dress the part. 

Don't classify yourself as a member of any special school or 
group. 

Don't call your quarters a garret or a studio. 

Don't frequent exclusively the company of writers. 

Don't think of any class of work that you feel moved to do as 
either beneath you or above you. 

Don't complain of lack of appreciation. (In the long run no 
really good published work can escape appreciation.) 

Don't think you are entitled to any special rights, privileges, 
and immunities as a literary person, or have any more reason 
to consider your possible lack of fame a grievance against the 
world than has any shipping-clerk or traveling salesman. 

Don't speak of poetic license or believe that there is any such 
thing. 

Don't tolerate in your own work any flaws in rhythm, rime, 
melody, or grammar. 

Don't use "e'er" for "ever" , "o'er" for "over," "whenas" 
or "what time" for "when," or any of the "poetical" common- 
places of the past. 



LIGHT VERSE I4I 

Don't say "did go" for "went," even if you need an extra 
syllable. 

Don't omit articles or prepositions for the sake of the rhythm. 

Don't have your book pubHshed at your expense by any house 
that makes a practice of publishing at the author's expense. 

Don't write poems about unborn babies. 

Don't — don't write hymns to the Great God Pan. He is dead, 
let him rest in peace ! 

Don't write what everybody else is writing. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Briefly discuss Horace's line: "A comic subject 
loves an humble verse. " 

2. Select a humorous poem of high grade and point out 
its humorous qualities. 

3. Do the same for a witty poem. 

Note: Exercises of this sort may be applied to other 
forms indefinitely. 

4. Discuss "John Gilpin's Ride," by Cowper. 

5. Compare the humorous verse of Carolyn Wells with 
that of John Kendrick Bangs (see present-day magazines). 

6. Compare the hmnor of John Hay's poem, "Little 
Breeches," with that of Bret Harte's "Jim," or his 
"Truthful James" (sometimes called "The Heathen 
Chinee"). 

7. Do the same for any other two well-known poems 
that are generally classed as htimorous. 

8. Select two sets of verses that illustrate the difference 
(a) between parody and extravaganza; {b) between bur- 
lesque and extravaganza. 



142 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

9. If in light verse a highly poetic line rich in imagery- 
be introduced, will it have a tendency to help or to hurt 
the verse? Say why. 

10. Write brief differentiating definitions of verse of the 
following classifications: Vers de Societe, Satirical, Hu- 
morous, Nonsense, and Whimsical Verse. 

11. Which seems to you to be the sort best worth 
attempting? Give reasons. 

12. If Vers de Societe appeals to you, write several verses 
in that style upon a theme that you think should prove 
attractive to the leading magazines. 

13. {a) Name an example of humorous verse that 
appeals to you; (6) try to analyze and to capture the spirit 
of its humor; {c) write a stanza or two embodying a dif- 
ferent thought but with the same humorous turn or con- 
struction. 

14. Write a satirical stanza ridiculing some fashionable 
foible or custom that seems to you to be in bad taste. 

15. Has satire often wrought reforms? 

16. Write a limerick upon the subject of your desire to 
write a limerick. 

Note: Unlimited imitations of whimsical forms may 
be taken up as additional assignments. 



CHAPTER XI 

MAGAZINE FICTION 

Without either an experimental or a theoretical knowl- 
edge of the technique of fiction it is difficult to write it 
successfully. Fortunately for beginners, both books and 
personal instruction have been provided — the latter in 
estabUshed schools, resident and non-resident; the former 
of varying scope and cost.^ The function of this chapter is 
not to instruct in the difficult art of fiction writing, but to 
present a few important foundation facts, together with 
some important notes on current practice. 

I. The Fictional Sketch 

By this term is meant a literary impression or picture of 
a mood, an emotion, a character, a place, or a condition of 
affairs. It does not concern itself so much with what is 
being done or will be done as with what is. It is, so to 
put it, a ''still" photograph and not a photoplay. Picture 
an old man standing sadly by a green mound on a grass- 
grown, fragment-strewn battle field, and you have a 
sketch of the simplest type. We need not know names or 
facts; the situation suggests enough to make us feel the 
poignancy of a loss — perhaps of an old general, or a com- 
rade of former years, or a son. 

1 See, among many other books, The Technique of the Novel, 
Charles F. Home; and Writing the Short-Story, J. Berg Esen- 
wein. 



144 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Thus it is plain that the writer succeeds with his sketch 
in proportion as he is able to call up in our minds the 
images he himself has seen while looking, whether in 
reahty or in fancy, upon a certain scene. He must first 
see, then make us see; feel, then make us feel. 

The literary sketch is a high-class form, hence it is rarely 
found in any but the best magazines. It is too subtle in 
structure and in appeal to be popular with either sensa- 
tional writers or the herd of readers. Good examples of 
sketches are found in the short work of John Galsworthy 
and Heriry Van Dyke in Century and Scribner^s. 

In length, the sketch ranges from a few hundred words 
up to fifteen hundred, but rarely more. When it goes 
beyond two thousand the tendency will be to divide it into 
episodes, for attention flags when too long bent on a single 
picture without essential change in its elements. Besides, 
the average mind soon wearies of symbolism — with which 
the sketch often deals — craving that reahty of which, 
after all, the symbohc is but the suggestion. 

One caution should be given here: the subject of the 
sketch had better not be too general. *' Truth " as a theme 
is too vague, but childish truth confronted by a father's 
roughness is specific and at once evokes pictures — ^pictures 
which suggest a result yet do not turn the sketch into a 
short-story by showing how the situation works out. 

2, The Tale 

The real tale is the simplest fictional form in point of 
structure. Though longer, it is even more simple than the 



MAGAZINE FICTION 145 

anecdote, for it need not work up to a sudden point.^ The 
tale is merely a chain of incidents, linked solely at the 
will of the narrator, beginning and stopping at some 
convenient point, and not arranged so as to develop a 
plot. "The Headless Horseman," from Irving's Sketch 
Book J is a good example. 

There is very little market for the plotless tale. Even 
hunting and adventure stories, and incidents in the life of 
an interesting child, are now strung on some plot-thread, 
however simple, so as to carry interest from event to 
event. This is worth remembering. 

Two general deductions from the fiction of the day seem 
worth making: The less a story leans on plot the more 
must it exhibit external action. A simple record of inner 
experiences is not suitable for the short tale. The second 
observation is similar in tone: The longer the tale, the 
liveher must be the movement. A Httle action strung out 
with many words makes a hopeless product. 

3. The Short-Story 

It naturally follows from what has been said of the 
sketch and the tale that a short-story is not merely any 
story that is short. This most highly organized of all short 
fictional forms must have a plot, and a plot may be 
defined as an arrangement of the incidents of the story so 
as to show a crisis in the affairs of the leading character or 

1 All the short fictional forms are treated fully, with complete 
examples, in The Art of Story Writing, by Esenwein and Cham- 
bers, " The Writer's Library. " The types discussed are anecdote, 
ancient fable, modern fable, ancient parable, modern parable, 
early tale, modern tale, legend, sketch, and short-story. 



146 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



characters, together with such a resolution of that crisis 
as results in either an unexpected return to the original 
status or a definite change. 

It goes without saying that the widest possible latitude 
in theme, length, treatment and style is found in the 
present-day short-story. Even hybrids are not uncommon, 
and certainly now and then not lacking in charm, as when 
the sketch crosses with the true short-story form. 

Because of this remarkable variety in matter and 
manner, few valuable deductions from current practice 
may be drawn in so brief a discussion as this. But let us 
see how long are the stories which the magazines are 
printing nowadays. 



Average Length of 829 Short-Stories in 120 
Issues of Forty Different Magazines 



Name of Magazine 


Number of 
Short-Sto- 
ries in three 
Issues 


Words in 
the Long- 
est Story 


Average 
Length 


Short Stories 


27 


10,000 


7,245 


Hearst's 


16 


10,000 


7,212 


Travel 


I 


7,200 


7,200 


Metropolitan 


10 


10,000 


6,860 


Cosmopolitan 


10 


8,200 


6,600 


Adventure 


26 


9,750 


6,377 


Red Book 


34 


9,200 


6,100 


Harper's 


23 


8,400 


6,044 


McClure's 


23 


9,100 


6,000 


Scribner's 


14 


7,600 


5,850 


Pictorial Review 


15 


8,500 


5,840 


Saturday Evening Post 


17 


9,800 


5,830 



MAGAZINE FICTION 



147 



Name of Magazine 


Number of 
Short-Sto- 
ries in three 
Issues 


Words in 
the Long- 
est Story 


Average 
Length 


Ainslee's 


13 


8,400 


5,423 


Sunset 


12 


9,200 


5,188 


Argosy 


19 


11,000 


5,105 


Pearson's 


17 


6,900 


4,810 


Atlantic 


8 


9,100 


4,775 


Century 


18 


8,400 


4,750 


Everybody's 


15 


6,700 


4,653 


Munsey 


19 


9,600 


4,636 


Collier's 


II 


6,000 


4,500 


Delineator 


10 


7,200 


4,450 


All-Story 


IS 


7,500 


4,253 


Woman's Home Com- 








panion 


21 


6,000 


4,143 


Young's 


42 


8,500 


4,07s 


Outing 


5 


6,200 


4,060 


American 


18 


5,500 


3,800 


St. Nicholas 


II 


8,000 


3,786 


Snappy Stories 


40 


9,300 


3,63s 


Good Housekeeping 


14 


5,000 


3,568 


Designer 


8 


5,000 


3,42s 


Christian Endeavor World 


13 


5,400 


3,100 


Canada Monthly 


22 


6,000 


3,086 


Mother's 


23 


5,200 


2,89s 


Black Cat 


27 


7,500 


2,842 


Southern Woman's 


21 


6,300 


2,776 


Smart Set 


48 


7,900 


2,775 


Bellman 


2 


2,300 


2,150 


Ladies' Home Journal 


21 


4,500 


2,136 


Overland 


20 


3,500 


1,935 


Grand Average 




4,519 





14S WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Solely because young writers are likely to take it as a 
warranty for indulging their weakness for length I hesitate 
to say that for several years the movement has been 
toward printing somewhat longer short-stories, the present 
average being, as we have just seen, 4,500 words. If we 
consider merely literary quality, this trend, within limits, 
is a good one because over-compression in fiction squeezes 
out atmosphere and character reality, but the very 
desirable qualities of vividness and forward movement are 
not well conduced by free expansion. 

Note, also, that the average length of stories accepted 
by the magazines is only a little more than one half the 
maximima length. This fact is significant, for it points to 
the many stories that are shorter than the average. Ten 
thousand words is about the extreme limit, and then we 
begin to have the novellette — with its fifteen thousand or 
more words and its more expanded plot-movement, setting 
and characterization, and its broader picture of life. 

The question of length has a vital bearing on salability. 
So many writers persist in sailing near the limit of length 
preferred by a given editor that one need not even refer to 
those whose stories exceed the limit. It should be enough 
to point out the folly of regarding oneself as the excep- 
tion. The truth is — and there can be no gainsaying the 
fact — -that it is ten times as hard to place a long short-story 
as a short short-story. Yet young writers blindly go on 
writing stories of seven, eight and nine thousand words — 
and even longer. Why? Because it is easier to write long 
stories than short ones; because they fatuously think their 
stories cannot be condensed without spoiling them; 



MAGAZINE FICTION 149 

because they have not mastered the art of writing and do 
not know how to compress; because they have seen long 
short-stories published and that proves to them that their 
stories are not too long; because a certain magazine 
announces that it has no limit of length and therefore, it 
is reasoned, they want long stories; because they have 
heard that stories are paid for at so much per word. 

But what is the truth? Editors strongly prefer short 
short-stories. This statement is based on my own long 
editorial experience and on association with many other 
magazine editors. Altogether apart from the fact that 
the vast majority of short-stories published would be 
better told if a quarter of their words were edited out, an 
editor wants short short-stories to balance the long ones 
that inevitably come to him. The physical limitations of 
his magazine demand this. He never buys a "light 
weight" long story, but a sUght short one he may buy to 
eke out his table of contents. It is quite safe to say that the 
clever writer who will for five years set himself or herseK 
the task of doing vivid stories of from fifteen hundred to 
thirty-five hundred words, and not one word more, will 
attain a vogue that will permit of longer work later. 

The present average of published short-stories is poor 
enough in quahty. Editors fondly imagine that the public 
likes pretty nearly all that it buys. The fact is, the public 
buys in the weary hope that it is going to find something 
better this time. Too many editors have a very meagre 
foundation for their own editorial judgments. Some 
editors form public taste — others are formed by it. 

Mr. Edward J. O'Brien, writing in the Boston Trans- 



150 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

script, and later in a book entitled "The Best Short Stories 
of 1915,'' gives the results of his examination of 2200 
stories printed in America during 191 5. In this study, 
which covered forty-six periodicals, he found that ''683 

stories possessed distinction ; 269 stories possessed 

high distinction ; and 91 stories were of more or 

less permanent literary value " A similar list is 

promised year by year. 

The investigator says that this study has made him 

"lastingly hopeful of our literary future. A spirit of change is act- 
ing on our literature. There is a fresh living current in the air. 
.... As the most adequate means to my end, I have taken each 
short story that I have considered by itself, and examined it im- 
partially. I have done my best to surrender myself to the writer's 
point of view, and granting his choice of material and interpreta- 
tion of it in terms of life, have sought to test it by the double 
standard of substance and form. Substance is something achieved 
by the artist in every act of creation, rather than something already 
present, and accordingly a fact or group of facts in a story only 
obtain substantial embodiment when the artist's power of com- 
pelling, imaginative persuasion transforms them into a living 
truth. The first test of a short story, therefore, is to discover 
how compelling the writer makes his selected facts or incidents. 
This test may be called the test of substance. 

"My second test is the test of form. I endeavor to discover 
how successfully the artist has shaped his substance into the most 
satisfying form. The short stories which I have examined in 
this study have fallen naturally into four classes, as they did 
before. The first class survived no tests, and of these stories I 
bring no report. The second class, indicated without asterisk, 
has passed either the test of substance or the test of form. The 
third class, indicated by one asterisk, has passed both the test 
of substance and the test of form. The fourth class consists of 
stories which signally excel, so that they may honestly lay claim 
to a somewhat permanent literary value. These I have double- 
starred." 



MAGAZINE FICTION I5I 

If Mr. O'Brien's judgments are sound, and if he has not 
been too much influenced by literary reputations, the 
magazine-buying pubHc is rapidly growing no better, for 
it is interesting to note how the following ratings of quality 
are in almost every instance in inverse ratio to circulation. 
This table gives the percentage of distinctive stories out 
of the whole niunber published by the magazines which 
attained an average of 15 per cent or higher. Each of the 
lowest five in the scale has a circulation of from one to 
two milUon monthly! 

Percentage of Stories of Distinction 

1. Scribner's Magazine 71% 

2. Century Magazine 60 

3. Harper's Magazine 56 

4. The Metropolitan 51 

5. The Belhnan 51 

6. American Magazine 42 

7. Lippincott's Magazine and McB ride's Maga- 

zine 36 

8. McClure's Magazine 35 

9. Illustrated Sunday Magazine 32 

10. Collier's Weekly 32 

11. Sunset Magazine 31 

12. Every Week 30 

13. Everybody's Magazine 28 

14. Associated Sunday Magazines (Jan.-May, ex- 

cluding stories in Every Week, q.v.) 24 

15. Dehneator 23 

16. Pictorial Review 22 



152 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

17. Ladies' Home Journal 19% 

18. Saturday Evening Post 18 

As the table shows, Scrihner^s Magazine, in Mr. 
O'Brien's opinion, printed the most consistently high- 
grade short fiction during 191 5, therefore a list of the 
stories chosen from this one periodical will be interesting 
as showing both a group of titles and a selection of authors, 
as well as for the stories themselves. 

Scribner's Magazine Stories 

*Coals of Fire, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews 
Brewster Blood, Katharine Holland Brown 
*White Hyacinths, Mary Synon 
Arthur Orton's Career, George Hibbard 
*Leda and the Swan, Katherine Fullerton Gerould 
**The Bounty- Jumper, Mary Synon 
*Hathor: A Memory, John Galsworthy 
*The Shunway, Armistead C. Gordon 
The Border-Land, Francis Parsons 
Esau's Daughter, Mary Synon 
*Sekhet: A Dream, John Galsworthy 
*Baytop, Armistead C. Gordon 
**Martin's Hollow, Katherine Fullerton Gerould 
*The Last Flash, Sarah Barnwell Elliott 
*Made in Germany, Temple Bailey 
**The Water-Hole, Maxwell Struthers Burt 
**Miss Marriott and the Faun, Katherine Fullerton 
Gerould 
Educating the Binneys, Olivia Howard Dunbar 



MAGAZINE FICTION 153 

The Speed King, William Wright 
*Mother Machree, James Brendan Connolly 
*At the End of the Rainbow, Jennette Lee 

A Little Tragedy at Coocoocache, George T. Marsh 
*Her First Marrying, Una Hunt 

"As Long As Yo's Single Dere's Hope," Una Hunt 

The Best-Seller, Gordon Hall Gerould 
*The King's Harnt, Armistead C. Gordon 

Harlequin to the Rescue, Hugh Johnson 
*A Pair of Lovers, Elsie Singmaster 
*Undesirables, Mary Synon 
*The Nippon Garden, John Seymour Wood 

The Antwerp Road, Henry Van Dyke 
**The Medicine Ship, James Brendan Connolly 
**Jeanne, the Maid, Gordon Arthur Smith 

The Very Lilac One, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews 
**Coming Home, Edith Wharton 

The Jade, Abbie Carter Goodloe 
*The First-Born, Katharine Holland Brown 

4. Longer Magazine Fiction 

In a few magazines (a) the book-length novel is published 
complete in one issue, or in two parts. It is obvious that 
to meet the former condition the novel must either be a 
short one or be cut for single-magazine use. As to the 
character of the story, no safe generalizations can be 
made beyond the banahty that such a novel must be 
*' popular" in tone. 

An examitiation of forty magazines, covering at least 
twelve months each, shows that the average length of 



154 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

novels published either in single numbers or in two issues 
is 66,250 thousand words. 

(b) The serial is a form of varying popularity. Every 
now and then a magazine publisher decides that the public 
does not want continued stories, so he cuts them out of 
his program; still, they are used by almost all the fiction- 
printing magazines. 

A serial usually is based on the book-length novel for 
the reason that the author hopes to arrange for book 
publication after seriahzation, if, indeed, such an arrange- 
ment has not first been made. This means that the book- 
length novel is offered in large numbers to magazine 
pubHshers. 

Yet the long novel is often cut for serial use, though 
when it is so cut it is not chiefly because it would require 
too many installments to give the complete novel, but for 
another reason, vital to the interest of the reader: Each 
installment of the serial must come to a climax of its own, 
while all the parts must maintain an increasing interest up 
to the grand climax. 

In order to secure this series of climaxes, and yet pre- 
serve a balance of length among the several parts, the 
editor may have to make cuts — with or without the 
author's help. Hence it is most important for the author 
to plan his serial with these part-climaxes in mind. Par- 
ticularly is this true when we remember that many serials 
never come to book pubhcation. 

The serials printed in thirty-two magazines — the inquiry 
covering twelve months — averaged, in round numbers, 
55,000 words in length. The average number of install- 



MAGAZINE PICTION 1 55 

ments required to complete the serial publication of these 
novels averaged slightly less than eight, and the average 
number of words for each installment was almost exactly 
10,000. 

That these averages include a considerable variety of 
magazine practice will appear from the condensed table 
following. The data has been furnished, in each instance, 
by the magazine editors and, as has been said, is based on 
the experience of at least twelve months. It should be 
remembered, however, that from year to year the policy 
of a given magazine may vary, so that, for example, the 
periodical that for the past year has used no serials may 
be in the market for continued stories next season, or the 
reverse may be the case. As a rule, however, this table 
will be a safe guide to the requirements of the more than 
two score magazines listed. Before submitting long fiction 
other than as here called for, writers should first satisfy 
themselves that the magazine has changed its policy. 

Obviously, the appended list does not include all the 
serial and novelette markets in the United States, hence it 
will be wise to be on the lookout for all the magazines 
and weekly newspaper supplements which offer markets 
for long fiction, especially the newer all-fiction publica- 
tions. Even the specialized periodicals now and then 
use serial stories. Your notebook or card index may 
well be used to record such information as it comes to 
you. Thus many a novelette or novel may find a mar- 
ket after the better-known houses have refused your story. 
New magazines are constantly appearing — many destined 
to die within a twelve-month, and a few to live. 



156 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Longer Magazine Fiction 



NAME OF 
MAGAZINE 



Adventure 

Ainslee's 

All-Story 

American 

Argosy ;.... 

Blue Book 

Book News.. 

Breezy Stories 

Century 

Cosmopolitan 

Delineator 

Designer 

Everybody's 

Every Week 

Good House- 1 
keeping J 

Harper's 

Hearst's 

Holland's 

Housewife 

Ladies' Home 1 
Journal J 

McClure's 

Metropolitan 

Munsey 

National 

Outing 

Overland 

Pearson's 

Pictorial Review 

Popular 

Red Book 

St. Nicholas 

Scribner's 

Short Stories 

Smart Set 

Smith's 

Southern Woman's. 

Sunset 

Young's 

Youth'sCompanion 

See Notes 1-6 on 



complete 
novel- 
ettes: 

NUMBER 
OF WORDS 



20,000 
35,000 
25,000 



12,000 

"i'e.ooo 



See note 1 

20,000 
See note 2 



20,000 



See note 3 

/ 20,000 
\ 23,000 

See note 4 



/ 15,000 

\ 25,000 

25,000 

See note 6 

f 25,000 

1 40,000 

30,000 

18,000 

25,000 



27,500 



complete 
novels: 

NUMBER 
OF WORDS 



66,000 
SO^OOO 



60,000 
55,000 



42,000 
122,000 



50,000 



55,000 



SERIAL STORIES 



NUMBER 
OF WORDS 




50,000 

/ 65,000 
\ 95,000 
[ 90,000 
I 100,000 



80,000 

40,000 

See note 5 

See note 5 

f 80,000 

\ 100.000 

80,000 

100,000 

/ 50,000 

\ 60,000 

100.000 



85,000 
30,000 
80,000 

35,'006 



NUMBER 
OF IN- 
STALL- 
MENTS 



3-4 

4 

5 

4-8 



6 
)-10 



7-8 
8-12 



10-12 

8-10 

6-8 
10 
6-8 

6 
&-10 

8 
8-9 



3-^ 

4 

8 

10-12 

10-12 



Varies 

6 

8-9 



LENGTH 
OF IN- 
STALL- 
MENTS 



10 



19,000 
15,000 
15,000 
/ 5,000 
1 7,500 
15,000 
20,000 
15,000 
6,000 

10,000 
15,000 

10,000 

/ 8,000 
\ 9,000 
8,000 
10,000 
11,000 

5,500 

f 7,000 
\ 8,000 

15,000 

11,000 

8,500 

/ 4,000 
\ 5,000 
f 5,000 
1 8,000 

8,000 
12,000 

8,500 
10.000 



11,000 
8,000 



20,000 
25,000 
20,000 
12,000 
f 4,500 
1 5,000 
8,000 
10,000 



Varies 
5,000 
10,000 

""'3,500 



next page. 



MAGAZINE FICTION 157 

Note 1. The Delineator occasionally uses two-part stories of 
from 16,000 to 18,000 words each. 

Note 2. Everybody s occasionally uses three- or four-part sto- 
ries of about 40,000 words in length. 

Note 3. McClure's occasionally uses two- or three-part sto- 
ries in installments of from 8,000 to 12,000 words each. 

Note 4. Munsey will use some serials and novelettes to vary 
its program. The average full-length novel printed in single 
issues during 1915 was 75,000 words. 

Note 5. Overland and Pearson's rarely use serials. 

Note 6. St. Nicholas occasionally uses short serials, or novel- 
ettes, of from 15,000 to 20,000 words. 

Though the methods of the short-story artist rather 
than those of the novelist are invoked by the writer of (c) 
the novelette, still it must be regarded as a little novel, and 
not merely as a long short-story. 

It differs from the novel chiefly in compression, speed 
of movement, always-lively treatment, and swift ending. 
By so much as these qualities are emphasized does the 
novelette lack the leisurely, analytical manner of the 
serious novel. It is a moderately long action told by short- 
story methods. A -beginning that sets us in the midst of 
the action, much dialogue, brisk movement, and swift 
contrasts, are essential to the successful novelette. 

In length, novelettes vary from the extreme of twelve 
or fifteen thousand words to forty thousand. From twenty 
to thirty thousand words is a safe average, based on present 
usage. In style, they vary precisely as do the magazines 
that print them. Since Lippincott^s long ago began the 
practice of printing either a novel or a novelette complete 
in each issue, the market has extended to its present size, 
and evidently the end is not yet. 



158 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

TEN MAXIMS FOR BEGINNERS IN 
FICTION WRITING 

The materials for good stories are in the life you know 
best, for the striking story is generally an unusual outcome 
given to a commonplace situation. 

Themes that are worn threadbare, salacious situations, 
and bitterly partisan subjects make it difficult to find a 
market. 

A plot is based on a contest of wills, a clash of interests, 
an obstacle in a course, some internal or external struggle, 
which causes suspense and suggests an interesting outcome. 

Change the real-life story into fiction by inventing con- 
ditions and happenings that round out the plot. Realism 
is not mere fideHty to actual happenings. 

Most good plots will contain two or three twists — or 
unexpected turns. O. Henry is a good model for the twist. 

Avoid the use of mere coincidence and accident in 
critical turns in a plot. The fact that such things happen 
in real life does not make them convincing in fiction. 

Characters, surroundings and actions are three great 
kinds of fictional material. Each influences the other in a 
story. Plan out these influences and inter-influences 
clearly before you write so that you may be working 
toward a definite end. 

Don't open with long explanations. Instead of begin- 
ning in the past and laboriously bringing things down to 
date, jump into the middle of the action as KipKng did in 
Without Benefit of Clergy: "But suppose it is a girl.'* 

Use dialogue not only to show your characters as in- 
teresting talkers but to tell the reader what he must know 



MAGAZINE FICTION 1 59 

in order to understand the story. Conceive of your char- 
acters as being on the stage and talking for the enlighten- 
ment of the audience. 

End when interest is at its height. Long-drawn-out 
falling actions have killed countless good stories. Resist 
the desire to explain or picture what the reader may be 
made to surmise or picture for himself. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Select a piece of magazine fiction and criticise it 
according to the foregoing ''Ten Maxims," and the " Points 
for Self-Criticism," Appendix B. 

2. State the plot in about two hundred words. 

3. What is the struggle, and what is the crisis? 

4. Point out any twists in the course of the plot. 

5. Outline an original short-story plot in not more than 
three hundred words. 

6. Outline the setting — that is, the visible surround- 
ings, like those of a stage scene. 

7. Briefly describe the two leading characters. Don't 
have too many people in your story. 

8. Write the introduction. 

9. Write the whole story rapidly. 

10. Pohsh it carefully — as often as if your ultimate 
success depended on this one story. Indeed, this may be 
the case. 



CHAPTER XII 



PLAYS 



Until lately the printed play has been an almost negligi- 
ble quantity in the magazines, yet now a fair number of 
periodicals use them at intervals, and in a few magazines 
they are found with considerable regularity. However, 
it could serve no good purpose to give here a list of maga- 
zines which accept plays, because editorial policies change 
so unexpectedly. Play writers — not to say playwrights — 
should be on the alert for magazine openings both old and 
new, for the printed play seems destined to add to its 
present growing popularity. Every first-class book shop 
now displays five times the number of volumes of plays 
that it did only a few years ago, so the magazines are 
quite sure to take up this interesting form increasingly. 
The growth of popular interest in the drama, as distin- 
guished from mere theatre going, is also shown by the 
popularity of such general organizations as The Drama 
League, the formation of countless local centers for the 
study of the drama and the growing attention given to 
dramatic literature by colleges and clubs. So many new 
plays are produced every year by amateurs, to say nothing 
of the enormous rewards won by successful professional 
production, that this field for the writer is becoming very 
inviting indeed, not alone for magazine publication but 
for book and stage as well. 



PLAYS l6l 

I. Kinds of Plays Used in the Magazines 

(a) The full-length play offers the smallest market, for 
obvious reasons. Physical Culture has been running sev- 
eral, in two or three installments — "The Doctor's Di- 
lemma," by George Bernard Shaw, is one recently used. 
It is certain that a new manuscript would have to be un- 
usually brilHant to win magazine publication in competi- 
tion with a full-evening play already successfully produced. 
However strong might be its dramatic qualities, it would 
have to read well, and this is not true of many plays that 
have been truly great successes on the boards. When 
setting, lights, movement, character-appearance, "busi- 
ness," and all that appeals to the eye, are missing, or at 
most merely indicated by a few swift words, the dialogue 
must be peculiarly well considered in order to tell the play- 
story and secure the needed effects. 

It must be remembered that the spoken play is not first 
of all literary, nor in some instances at all literary. We all 
know that Shakespeare printed and Shakespeare for the 
stage are two very different versions. The writer who is 
preparing his manuscript for magazine or book use — and 
this appHes especially to the full-length play — must expect 
to alter it materially for stage use. In only a few instances 
— Ibsen and Shaw are examples — ^vill the one version 
serve almost equally well for the other. 

(b) Tabloid versions of stage successes occasionally are 
printed in the magazines. Current Opinion furnishes cases 
in point. These, however, are never offered by unknown 



1 62 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

contributors but are prepared by special editorial arrange- 
ment with the owners of the production. 

(c) Poetic plays f such as those by Mr. John Masefield 
and the late Stephen Phillips, are now and then used by 
the best magazines. Needless to say, these must possess 
both dramatic value and true poetic quality. They need 
not be bound by the conventional number of acts, and 
though blank verse is their usual form, any form of line 
is justifiable so long as the lines have a spoken quality 
(scarcely possible when short lines are constantly used) 
and a dignity in perfect harmony with the theme and the 
essential idea of poetry. 

It must be clear that a special study of the poetic drama 
is necessary for one who would attempt it. Not many 
have succeeded in this difScult province, and of those whose 
printed plays are widely read only a very few have been 
able to write good plays and good poetry at the same 
time. Robert Browning never wrote a poetic play suita- 
ble for general production — "Pippa Passes" is charming 
poetry in dramatic form, but not good drama. It is, 
however, possible to write a good play in good poetry, 
but only if one is both a dramatist and a poet.^ 

(d) One-ad plays offer a wider market than any forms 
thus far named.^ Both on account of the crisp brevity of 

iPor a comprehensive study of play construction see The 
Technique of Play Writing, by Charlton Andrews, published 
uniform with this volume in "The Writer's Library." Unless 
one is an expert dramatist the study of some such work as this 
admirably practical treatise is absolutely necessary. 

2 For a very full and remarkably helpful treatment of the 
playlet see Writing for Vaudeville, by Brett Page, in "The Writer's 
Library." There is also an excellent chapter on the subject in 
Mr. Andrews' The Technique of Play Writing. 



PLAYS 163 

the playlet — which makes it bear the same relation to the 
full-evening play that the short-story sustains to the novel 
— and because the rapid action makes reading an agreea- 
ble diversion for the popular mind, the magazines find 
more room for this shorter dramatic form than could well 
be given to the longer. 

The only practical counsel here to be given is, be sure 
that the theme is essentially dramatic — that is to say, of a 
nature requiring that it be shown in action; that the 
crisis arising from the essential struggle is of such value 
as to hold interest tense; and that after the knot is untied 
the falling action comes swiftly and with full satisfac- 
tion. To say more would be to attempt a treatise on 
dramatics. 

(e) Special dramatic forms cover, of course, a wide 
range of tj^es. Because they are better suited to amateur 
production than are any of the foregoing forms — with the 
exception possibly of the one-act play — more magazines 
open their pages to these nondescripts. For example, 
periodicals devoted to school, club and home life often 
print little farces, comediettas, burlettas, masques, 
moralities, charades, tableaux, monologues, sketches, 
church and school entertainments, and combinations of 
these several types which can only be called *' plays." 
After magazine production such manuscripts may some- 
times be sold to publishers who make a specialty of enter- 
tainment booklets, such as The Penn PubHshing Company, 
Philadelphia; Dick and Fitzgerald, New York; E. S. 
Werner & Co., New York; Samuel French, New York; 
T. S. Denison & Co., Chicago; and Walter A. Baker, 



164 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Boston. Most of the religious publishers issue books of 
church and Sunday-school entertainments. 

2, Good Form for Dramatic Manuscripts 

Either of the usual forms for the play manuscript will 
serve also for the magazine. In the following the names of 
the characters are typed in red, as are the stage and 
"business" directions. The dialogue is typed in black, 
blue or purple. 

William 
I*m sorry if my well-meant words 
donH suit your taste, "but I 
thought you came here for ad- 
vice . 

Hobson 
(Rising) I didn't come to you, 
you jumped-up cock-a-hooping — 

Maggie 
That'ull do, father. My hus- 
band's trying to help you. 

Hobson 
(Sits. Glares impatiently for a 
time, then meekly says:) Yes, 
Maggie. 

Maggie 
Now, about this accident of 
yours . 



PLAYS 165 

For the stage copy the following form also is used: The 
typing is all done in the same color — black, blue, or purple 
— the names of characters and the stage directions being 
underscored in red ink — by an ordinary pen — if preferred. 

Act II 

GRAVES. Burton! 

(Startled loy his tone, the 
others turn and regard Graves 
curiously. ) 

BURT PIT. Yes, sir. 

GRAVES . Where's Sam? 

BURTOIT. He went out, Sir 

GRAVES. Went out? 

BURTOI\r. Y-yes, Sir. About a 
quarter of an hour ago. 

GRAVES . Where to? 

BURT PIT. He didn't say. Sir. 
(Graves turns away help- 



lessly 


Burton 


. list 


ens 


and th( 


3n exits 


C. 




Graves 


walks up 


and 




down, wringing 


his 





hands . ) 

In order to save space most magazines print plays in a 
more condensed form, as in the following extract from Cur- 
rent Opinion. Thus any of the three models given will be 



1 66 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

acceptable, provided a single method of arrangement be 
carefully adhered to throughout, so as to make all clear 
to the reader. 

William. I'll do this job, lass. Give and have. {Takes 
her hand.) 

Maggie. What are you doing? You leave my wedding- 
ring alone. 

William. {Following her.) You've worn a brass one long 
enough, lass. 

Maggie. I'll wear that ring forever, Will. {Will puts his 
arm around her.) 

William. I was for getting you a proper one, Maggie. 

Maggie. I'm not preventing you. I'll wear the gold for 
show, but this brass one stays where you put it, Will, and if 
we get too rich and proud we'll just sit down together quiet 
and take a long look at it, so we'll not forget the truth about 
ourselves. {Enter Hohson with his hat.) Ready, father? Why, 
you're looking better already. 

HOBSON. Ay, Maggie, when all's said, it's champion to 
have you about the house again. 

Maggie. That's right, Father. 

Hob SON. {With a gleam of his old spirit.) Will Mossop, 
you're a made man now I've taken you into partnership. 
Maggie, you come along of me to Albert Prosser. I reckon 
I'll lose no time in drawing up the deed. Come on, now, do 
as I bid you; I'm master 'ere. {He goes out on Maggie's arm; 
she looks hack and winks to Will.) 

William. {Beaming.) Well, I don't know! 

END. 

^. Simple Hints on Play Construction 

A play is a story, therefore consider your plot first of all 
as a story to be shown in action. 



PLAYS 167 

The theme should have as broad an appeal as possible. 
Keep the fundamental interests of humanity always before 
you. 

The basis of the plot must be a struggle, ^'a clash of 
wills, '* that is worth observing both for its own sake and 
for the way it is carried on. 

Two prime elements are situation and character — each 
must influence the other. Omit all that does not sustain 
this test. 

There can be no play that does not deal vitally with 
some emotion in the characters. 

Have few characters, and center interest in one or two 
of them. Let the others serve to bring out the central 
figures. 

Unify the action by having one main line of interest and 
making everything contribute to that. 

Don't pre-suppose too many events prior to the open- 
ing; and such as must be pre-supposed, make as clear as 
possible without awkwardly telling the audience. This 
is known as "the exposition." 

Keep the action moving forward with enough speed to 
maintain interest. Don't stop and don't back-track. 

The incidents must grow out of the situation and not 
simply be tacked on. 

Suspense is maintained by handUng the element of 
danger — moral, social, physical. The audience must be 
made to feel ardently how vital it is that dangers which 
threaten must in some way be turned to the advantage 
of the chief character, or sustained in a noble way. 

Dialogue should contain few if any long speeches. Learn 



l68 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

to tell much by inference and the use of significant 
"business." 

Each exit and entrance must have such a bearing on 
the action that the audience will be interested to know 
what effect it will have on the outcome. 

The conclusion may well be faintly foreshadowed, yet 
the outcome kept so uncertain that interest does not wane. 
When the outcome does come it must satisfy expectation, 
yet the means of its accomplishment had better be such 
as to excite either surprise or admiration, or both. 

If the play has a moral you need not tell it^t must be 
obvious from all that has been said and done. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Choosing a single dramatic form that suits your 
abilities and the probable chances of a market, try to find 
an example in a magazine. 

2. Analyze it by outlining the plot or action and 
briefly describing the characters. 

3. Suggest any betterments that occur to you. 

4. Make a brief synopsis of the plot of an original 
piece of dramatic work for magazine use. 

5. Briefly describe the setting, characters and costumes. 

6. Write the opening action in full, giving attention to 
"business." 

7. Complete the manuscript. From twenty to thirty 
typewritten pages will be enough for either a twenty- 
minute playlet or one full act. 



CHAPTER XIII 



EDITORIAL WORK 



Some important parts of magazine writing — albeit 
unobtrusive parts mostly — are done in the editorial 
offices. Besides, there is much else of which the public 
never dreams. 

7. The Editorial Staff and Its Duties 

The editorial staff of many a small and good magazine 
consists of one man or woman, or two at most. The more 
elaborately organized force has at least seven, not counting 
department editors and minor assistants. Between these 
extremes are staffs of all sizes, each with its own peculiar 
division of labor. 

In editorial organization the magazine differs from the 
newspaper as widely as the several magazines differ among 
themselves. Few magazines conform to a type, in the 
sense that most newspapers do, and practically no men and 
women can be trained to do a special kind of editorial 
work except by the repeated acts of doing it, therefore we 
must not expect to find in any given magazine office a 
group of editors who hold the same positions relatively 
that they do in other offices. 

Further, each editor or sub-editor is pretty sure to be 
doing the work for which he or she is best fitted, and so it 
comes about that the duties presently to be outlined in a 



I70 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

formal way are of tener divided among a smaller group of 
assistants than committed to specific editors in sole charge 
of such departments. The lines cross and shift according 
to the magazine and the staff personnel. 

(a) The Editor-in-chief maintains the character of the 
magazine according to the wishes of the owners. He 
directs the work of his assistants, originates or passes 
judgment on new ideas, keeps his finger on the pulse of his 
special public, makes arrangements — sometimes in per- 
son — with prominent or especially promising writers, tries 
to get for his niagazine the work of coveted authors, 
agrees with suitable sub-editors to take up new depart- 
ments, supervises the work of all department editors, 
passes upon such manuscript as is brought to him for 
decision by his subordinates, conducts a large correspond- 
ence, oversees the work of the make-up man, sees that the 
art editor is providing suitable covers and illustrations, 
writes an editorial page in many cases, keeps his eye open 
for new Kiplings, watches rival magazines, keeps friendly 
with the proper people, and in general sees that the maga- 
zine grows better month by month without spending too 
much money to get results! 

For all this work the big magazines provide enough 
helpers to keep the editor on his feet, though often tot- 
tering, but on the smaller journals the amount of work the 
chief has to do is literally appalhng. 

But back of what the chief must do is what he must be. 
If there is anything a magazine editor ought not to know 
I have not heard of it, and when there is an obscure subject 
on which either he or a member of his staff is not posted 



EDITORIAL WORK 1 71 

fate at once ordains that a manuscript will pass all his 
manuscript readers with that particular point twisted into 
a blunder. 

(b) The Managing Editor has the duties assigned him 
by the chief. He is a sort of vice-president. For a very- 
active editor he will be an alter ego, going where the chief 
is not able to go, seeing callers, doing executive work of all 
sorts, and oftenest co-ordinating the departments in such 
a way that results come for the responsible editor. 

One of the prime duties of the managing editor in some 
ofl5ces is to plan the make-up of the magazine, or at least 
carry out the editor's wishes in this respect (see Make-up 
Editor). He must also serve as a buffer between the print- 
ing — usually called the manufacturing — department and 
the editorial office, for each department prefers to take all 
the time there is, at the expense of the other. The work of 
getting out a great magazine on time is a super-human 
task. 

(c) The Literary Editor is the title given lately by some 
magazines to the chief of the literary department, or the 
head manuscript reader. His duty it is to manage the 
work of his helper or helpers so as to make reasonably sure 
that no promising new writer escapes notice either in the 
columns of other periodicals or as a contributor to his own. 
He must bring to his chief — though in some instances the 
final decision really Hes with him as literary editor — such 
manuscript as ought to be accepted, or negotiated for, or 
corresponded about, or rejected only after more than the 
usual procedure. It is usually his duty to make up the 
"editors' sheets," which contain extracts from each issue 



172 WRITING FOR THE ItfAGAZINES 

of the magazine and are sent out to the newspapers for 
review or advance notices. Obviously, these duties may 
be varied considerably according to the staff organization 
— and this applies to every other position named. He also 
revises manuscripts in such important particulars as 
would not be trusted to the copy editor (which see). 

(d) The Assistant Manuscript Reader does the work 
indicated by his title. On large magazines there are more 
than one to do this exacting work. After each newly re- 
ceived manuscript is recorded — usually the date, title, 
name and address of the author, and the amount of postage 
enclosed are set down and a number is put on the envelope 
to show the reader in what order to take up the manu- 
scripts. Sometimes a minor clerk attends to these matters 
of record. 

As the reader goes over the manuscript of a poem, story 
or article, he has in mind, at least subconsciously, a number 
of questions by which each manuscript is brought to the 
test, for if the offering should fail in one or two vital points 
it is usually enough to condemn it; and of course the one 
ever-present standard is: Does this meet our present 
needs? 

Questions like these are in the editorial mind: Is this 
manuscript illiterate? Is it quite out of tune with our 
magazine? Is it dull? Is it trite? Is it behind the times? 
Is it poorly written? Does it fail to do what it sets out to? 
Have we already published, or have we on hand, enough 
or too much of a similar sort? Is it quite too long? How 
does it compare with a similar manuscript we are now 
considering? Is it good enough to warrant further con- 



EDITORIAL WORK 1 73 

sideration? Is the author promising enough to warrant our 
watching him, writing to him, asking for other material? 

These and other questions, fitting the pecuHar needs of 
each magazine, are part of the mental make-up of every 
alert manuscript editor, and in many instances it does not 
take long to determine either that a contribution is hope- 
less or that it should have further consideration. 

As we all know, not all hopeless manuscripts are sent 
back forthwith, for now and then the work of the writer is 
good enough to warrant a letter from the editorial depart- 
ment; and of course there are many instances of manu- 
scripts being held for further weighing and yet being found 
unavailable at last. 

The managing editor, and the literary editor with his 
assistant readers, must more than any other members of 
the staff possess one quahty— ability to look at all ques- 
tions from a double view-point: their own and that of 
their chief. "All in all, I think he would like this," is a 
constant judgment that assistants are forming; less 
frequently one will decide: *'The chief doesn't like this 
sort of stuff, but other magazines are using it successfully, 
it's in the air nowadays, it's well done, so I'll put it up to 
him with a strong recommendation." 

(e) The Art Editor is not chiefly a literary person, but 
he must deal even more with words than with pictures. 
Consequently he keeps in close touch with the literary 
side of his magazine and is careful to secure not only 
striking and beautiful pictures but such as actually il- 
lustrate the text. We all know how ridiculous is the result 
when he fails. 



174 WRITING rOR THE MAGAZINES 

The decorative head- and tail-pieces, borders and full- 
page decorations are of course in his charge also. 

His work is not done with these duties, however, for he 
must deal with the engraver and the printer so as to get the 
best results. He also cooperates with the make-up editor 
in planning the pages of the magazine. Often the duties of 
art editor and those of make-up editor are combined. 

(f) The Copy Editor on smaller magazines is usually 
given charge of some other work also, but in any division 
of labor his duties as copy editor are the same. He must 
go over all accepted manuscript, prepare titles and sub- 
titles; see that the authors' names, titles and achievments 
are correctly stated, spelled and placed, mark the styles 
of type for all headings and text, mark all spelling, punc- 
tuation, capitalization, abbreviation, and paragraphing 
which needs to be altered according to the office-rules of 
the magazine, watch for errors of all sorts in the manu- 
script, and take up with the chief or some other superior 
any question that may arise regarding an important 
change. In general, he must see that the manuscript goes 
to the composing room as absolutely perfect "copy." 

(g) The Head Proof Reader, Magazines do not depend 
on the printing department for all the proof reading, but 
some member of the staff — usually the copy editor — 
reads th proof. First he reads it in "galleys," which are 
long strips of printed paper, called "galley proof" because 
the proof-impression has been made on the paper directly 
from the long tray-like galleys which hold the type before 
it has been made up into pages. 



EDITORIAL WORK 1 75 

While the galley proofs are being read the manuscript 
copy is sometimes read aloud by a ''copy holder," usually 
a minor employee. As a rule this reading of copy aloud is 
done in the printing office only. 

After the type matter has been put into page form — 
of which more in a moment — the page proof is read in the 
editorial offices, and generally a final proof, or revise, is 
also read. These several readings are in addition to the 
proof readings given in the printing department. 

(h) The Make-up Editor has a difficult task on maga- 
zines which use illustrations that cut into the text, for not 
only must he see that the lay-out for illustration and text 
is fit and harmonious, but he must often, just before the 
magazine goes to press, cut an article or even a story so as 
to make up the pages individually and as a whole in an 
effective way. All this requires taste, magazine training, 
quickness and adaptability. The task of shortening 
articles is not so frequent since the advent of the annoying 
custom of finishing an article among the advertising 
columns. 

On at least one of the largest American magazines the 
managing editor is also the head make-up man. On some 
large weeklies a special make-up man is employed. In 
other organizations his duties cover the make-up work on 
several magazines, while in yet others the managing editor 
depends largely on the make-up man in the printing office. 

(i) The Departmental or Special Editor. The peculiar 
needs of various magazines open a large number of special 
posts to competent workers. 



176 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Many magazines run departments in charge of an editor 
whose name is '' one to conjure with," in editorial parlance. 
This editor is rarely resident with the staff, but may live 
anywhere, though it is obviously convenient to have a 
department editor who can come to the office for frequent 
conferences. Sometimes only part of the page or depart- 
ment is done by the editor whose portrait and name are its 
adornment, the bulk of the material being gathered by the 
regular editorial staff or by minor helpers. 

Other magazines need editors for special work quite 
different from any duties thus far outlined. Current event 
periodicals need digests of the news and other important 
matters, clippings from Journals suitable for comment, 
book reviews,^ reviews of matters on which the magazine 
specializes, and actual editorials. Class magazines need 
editors for the revising, rewriting and condensing of news 
and information-items, the preparation of interviews and 
departmental material, and as many different types of 
work as our multiform magazines make necessary. 

2. Quolijications of an Editor 

After having outlined the duties of the various members 
of an editorial staff I need not dwell on the endowments 
and training required to do the work of an editor. It is 
literally impossible to set out by preparing for only one of 
the lines of work necessary in an editorial office. Natural 

1 Since book reviewing is done almost exclusively by members 
of the staff, there are no lucrative openings in this field for con- 
tributors. When a book is sent to some specialist for review a 
small honorarium may be paid, but the few quasi outside workers 
who receive books usually get their pay by retaining the book. 



EDITORIAL WORK 177 

and acquired fitness in at least three or four are indis- 
pensable, and gradually all or [nearly all must be mas- 
tered. 

Each member of an editorial staff who has any responsi- 
bihty for the selecting of material for publication must 
know what is good in his own type of literature and why 
it is good. He must also know what is popular and have 
at least a shrewd suspicion of the reason. He must be 
famihar with what the magazines — particularly those in 
his own line and near it — have been doing for years, 
what changes of policy have taken place and why, what 
magazines have failed and why, what ones have succeeded 
most largely and why, what class of readers each appeals to, 
and, in general, he must understand the magazine business, 
especially as it touches his own kind of magazine. Why 
is a big word in his vocabulary. 

He must realize that circulation, advertising and edito- 
rial material bear vital relations to each other, therefore 
he must know a great deal about how circulation is gained, 
maintained and increased, and advertising likewise. He 
must know the principles of literary technique and be able 
to write good prose. He must know all about the prepa- 
ration of manuscript for the printer, understand a good 
deal about type, composition and good printing, and know 
how to read proof rapidly yet accurately. If his magazine 
uses illustrations he must know about methods of engrav- 
ing and the management of inks and papers, for not many 
magazines can afford an art editor. 

Besides all this is the question of his knowledge of life 
and its myriad affairs, and his ability to turn his hand. 



178 WRITING EOR THE MAGAZINES 

after a little training, to any one of the positions just de- 
scribed which may be combined with his own. 

Now if you add the endowments of common sense, 
human f eehng, patience, the sense of what people like, and 
the capacity for making very few mistakes while despatch- 
ing a vast amount of work, you have a pretty fair editor 
in embryo — nothing but experience will ever mature him 
or her into a really good one. 

J. How Editorial Positions are Attained 

Every year are graduated from the colleges a thousand 
and one young men and women who, because the professor 
of rhetoric has praised their work, would consent, if prop- 
erly urged, to edit some great magazine. These form the 
first line of *' availables." Most of them "would be willing 
to accept a position" — that is the formula — as assistant 
editor. Two or three would be glad to get a job as copy 
holder — and these are more promising subjects for future 
McClures, Hapgoods and Lorimers than the rest of the 
thousand. This is sober truth. 

Then comes the main army, chiefly spinsters, who want 
an editorial position because they have always been fond 
of reading. These are supported by a huge reserve of 
wrist- watch boys who would like *'a nice clean profes- 
sion" — without being willing to train to fill the post. 
Finally we have the camp followers — failures in other 
work who know it is easy to pick out stories because their 
friends have always praised their literary judgment. 

As a matter of fact, editors are rarely chosen from appli- 



EDITORIAL WORK 1 79 

cants who come fresh from college or private life. To 
begin with, there are not nearly enough staff editorial posi- 
tions to go around — ^perhaps three thousand in America, 
not including the newspapers. Here are some of the ways 
in which these positions have actually been reached: 

The editor has filled a staff vacancy by appointing the 
non-resident editor of a department. 

The editor's secretary has shown such good Judgment, 
and so worked to master the editorial duties, that she or he 
has won a staff appointment. 

A keen proof reader in the printing department has been 
brought over into the editorial rooms to edit copy, and 
climbs on up. 

A college journalist who has "made good" on his maga- 
zine or paper is chosen. 

A stenographer or clerk has shown ability to do better 
editorial work than a member of the staff. Such chances 
are occurring constantly. 

A successful contributor to the magazine is taken on the 
staff temporarily and makes a place for himself. 

The proprietor's son or niece is given a chance — and 
sometimes succeeds. 

An editor gets a higher position on a rival magazine so 
that the publisher may get inside information of the 
rival's methods. 

A graduate of a school of journalism is offered a small 
opening. 

A circulation man who is well educated ana observant 
shows that he knows what the people want and is given an 
editorial position. 



l8o WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

An advertising man gets the same chance. 

A college professor, a clergyman or a lawyer who has 
long been doing odd bits of journalistic work wins a post. 

An investor buys an interest in a magazine, and with it 
an editor's desk. 

A newspaper man comes from that field. 

The editor of an obscure little magazine — perhaps an 
amateur journalist — shows striking ability and is chosen. 

A personal application may be made just at the time 
when an embarrassing vacancy occurs and the applicant 
be given a chance. 

This list of openings could be expanded indefinitely, 
only to show that it is just about hopeless to look for an 
editorial position unless you are willing to learn before you 
apply for the place. Millions are willing to learn — but at 
the publisher's expense. You must— either while serving 
in a clerical position or in some work that brings you into 
close touch with editorial duties — master the details of 
commercial Hterary criticism, editorial conduct, and manu- 
script preparation, all the while that you are building up 
your mental grasp. Then you will be justified in asking 
for a chance. 

The rewards of editorial work, sad to say, are not large. 
A few great editors receive relatively large salaries; per- 
haps fifty others are paid from four to five thousand dol- 
lars a year, and this includes the editors of technical jour- 
nals; a much larger group draw fifty dollars a week; 
while the rest trail down to unmentionable sums. 

However, the editor's life in the main is one of intel- 
lectual expansion, brings association with interesting 



EDITORIAL WORK l8l 

people, and ranks him among professional folk. Certainly 
it is worth while fitting oneself thoroughly for this work, 
for the knowledge and skill gained will always be of prac- 
tical value in the work of authorship, even if a suitable 
editorial opening does not occur. It must be remembered, 
however, that it is not possible to prepare for an editorial 
career in anything like the direct way in which one gets 
ready for medicine or the law. One may indeed get into 
line for the work by such preparation as I have already 
outlined, and then look out for an opening, but there can 
be no certainty that the door will open — or even that you 
can wisely push it open. Magazine editorial work is a 
sort of post-graduate career following upon any one of a 
dozen or more alhed callings. Success in one of these, and 
special preparation for the editor's tasks, may some day 
swing a vacant swivel chair toward you. 



CHAPTER XIV 

POINTS ON PREPARING MANUSCRIPT 

If you credit the word of those who know, it pays 
abundantly to offer only manuscript that is in creditable 
form. A self-respecting writer dresses his writings as 
decently as himself. The editor will accept your manu- 
script at your own valuation, until a reading proves the 
contrary. Correlate these facts for yourself. 

J. Revising the Manuscript 

To revise is to look over again — so that the rested eye 
may catch errors unseen at first; to re-weigh statements; 
to test the value of arrangement; to seek for flaws of 
word-meaning, word-arrangement, sentence-structure, 
sentence-arrangement, paragraphic form, or paragraphic 
sequence; to sit back and get the general effect — in short, 
to comb the composition, in parts and as a whole, to dis- 
cover how it may be improved. 

The manuscript that is not worth polishing was not 
worth writing. How can I say this with enough force to 
impress inexperienced writers ! For an editor who loves to 
see a good thing well done it is painful to see how careless 
most writers are. When you gently call attention to 
omitted periods and commas, dashes used indiscriminately, 
slovenly spelling, indention of paragraphs ignored or 
crazily irregular, type keys packed with dirt, wrong 



POINTS ON PREPARING MANUSCRIPT 1 83 

letters not erased, soiled paper, or any other offense against 
neatness, they open wide their eyes as though to say, 
*'Are editors silly enough to notice little things like 
that?" 

Yet for a generation friendly advisers have been trying 
to make it clear that trifles often have a direct bearing on 
the meaning of an article, and they certainly do have a 
ponderable part in that general effect on an editor which 
subtly moves him for or against acceptance. It matters 
not a particle whether you beUeve this or not — it is true; 
the statement is based on the experience of many editors. 
Of course, this is not to say that an otherwise acceptable 
manuscript will be rejected because of minor errors, but 
it is to affirm that carelessness — for instance, in the points 
named in the preceding paragraph — always weigh against 
its approval and sometimes definitely cast the balance 
against it. Be just to your thoughts and dress them well. 
You can teach yourself to revise your work both in detail 
and in major points if you are willing to try honestly. To 
begin with, read your ^'finished" work aloud, so that the 
ear may detect mistakes which the eye has missed. 

2. The Value of Typewritten Manuscript 

Mr Arthur T. Vance, for years editor of Woman's Home 
Companion^ and now editor of Pictorial Review^ writes as 
follows in The Writer's Monthly: 

"The average young writer doesn't seem to understand why 
editors demand typewritten manuscripts, and this applies not 
only to beginners, but some of the old-timers who ought to know 
better. 



l84 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

"The objection from the editorial point of view to hand- 
written manuscripts is well taken. It is not only because hand- 
writing is hard to read, but because the author doesn't give him- 
self a fair chance. This may sound strange, but it is true, and 
can be explained on a mechanical basis. When you read a type- 
written line, just as when you read a printed line, the eye does 
not stop to read it letter by letter, or even word by word. The 
skilled reader takes in the whole line, ofttimes two or three lines, 
at a glance. The reading is made easy, and the mind more readily 
grasps the effect or the impression the author is striving for. On 
the other hand, when you read hand- written manuscripts, you 
have to read every word separately and frequently have to spell 
out the words letter by letter. It is so laborious a task that the 
illusion is almost certain to be lost. It is just the same as when 
you studied Latin in school. Old Virgil wrote some fine stories 
— interesting, inspiring, thrilling — but when you had to translate 
a word at a time, it became a bore — a task — and you got so you 
hated the sight of the book. You didn't appreciate the story of 
it at all. 

"I hope the young writers, and the old writers, will see my 
point. I would say offhand, that a manuscript which is type- 
written has five times the chances of being accepted and published 
that a hand- written one has." 

As an aid to composition most writers have found the 
typewriter invaluable — a small minority have not, and I 
am among this minority. Many advantages are claimed 
for this method, but these must be brought to the test of 
experience. Whatever the result in this regard, it is 
certain that any writer who hopes to do much work should 
own, or at least operate, a type machine. To see one's own 
work in approximately the form in which prospective 
readers are to see it is in itself an aid to self-criticism, and 
if one thinks of newspaper journalism as a career there is 
simply no doing without the typewriter. 



POINTS ON PREPARING MANUSCRIPT 1 85 

J. Preparing the Manuscript 

Use white paper, letter size (83^ x ii), and be sure that 
it is not transparent. 

Never use single space in typing, and double space is 
better than triple — except for the first draft, on which you 
need room for marking revisions. 

Leave proportionately as large margins on all sides of the 
type page as you see on this printed page. At the top of 
the first page leave a wider margin than usual. 

Do not use a copying ribbon on your typewriter; it 
smudges, and also stains the hands, and sometimes the 
clothing, of the one who reads. 

If you must use a pen, it is absolute folly to write in a 
small hand, to crowd the page, or to write on both sides of 
the sheet. Few editors will look twice at such a manu- 
script. 

It useless to submit pencil- written manuscript unless you 
have an imderstanding with the editor. The exceptions to 
this rule are negligible. 

Study any magazine page to see how paragraphs should 
be set in from the left hand margin of the page — about one 
inch, in manuscript. 

Be particularly careful to begin each new speech by a 
different speaker in dialogue with a new paragraph. Do 
not bother with the exception to this rule until you have 
mastered the practice. 

If one speaker should continue his speaking over into a 
new paragraph, do not put quotation marks at the end of 
the former paragraph, but place them at the opening of 



1 86 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

each paragraph contaming that one speech; then be sure 
to put *' quotes" at the point where his speaking ends. 
The principle is that it is absolutely essential to the proper 
understanding of dialogue for the reader to see without the 
slightest effort when one speaker ends, or another begins, 
or the author makes his own comment. 

If you have occasion to alter your tj^ing slightly by pen 
it is not necessary to recopy it, but many or large cor- 
rections and additions should be typed and inserted in the 
proper place. If these additions take up only a few lines 
and the page is thus made longer, fold the sheet at the 
bottom to the normal length of page. It is better, however, 
to add a new page and renumber all the pages, even though 
any one page may not be full. 

When you wish to alter a word be sure to mark out 
the discarded word, place under it a caret (A) and 
with extreme care write in exactly above it the new word. 
This illustrates why double spacing is necessary in typ- 
ing. 

If you change the name of a character in a story be sure 
to change it consistently all through. Neglect of this 
precaution is sure to prove confusing to the manuscript 
reader and may make your story so unintelligible as to 
cause its rejection. 

Do not use abbreviations, but spell out words like 
"Doctor," ^'Senior," "cents," "New Jersey," and "Cap- 
tain." 

Spell out all numbers not used in a statistical way. 

These are only a few points — for fuller instruction you 
should consult a book on manuscript preparation; but 



POINTS ON PREPARING MANUSCRIPT 1 87 

care and common sense are good guides if you are keen to 
observe how magazine pages are set up. 

Fold a letter-size sheet twice, thus leaving three equal 
parts of the paper in folds. Positively never roll the 
paper. 

Many, though not all, editors prefer that short manu- 
script should not be permanently fastened or bound. Most 
literary agencies, however, and a few authors, cover and 
bind their short manuscripts by cutting a peice of heavy 
paper, dark and not easily torn, to a size 12 x S^/2- The 
entire back of the manuscript is covered, the extra inch 
folded over the top, and the whole riveted through the top 
front margin. If you adopt this plan, be careful in typing 
your story to leave enough margin so that the binding edge 
may not hide the slightest part of the top line, or even 
make it hard to read. But whatever form of binding you 
adopt — I personally advise against using any — never use 
pins. 

It is quite safe to say that long manuscripts should not 
be boimd unless thay are bound in small and numbered 
sections. Suppose, for instance, you handled several novel 
manuscripts in a single day — would it not be easier for you 
to glance at them sheet by sheet and lay the sheets aside 
rather than sit for seven hours literally forcing open pages 
of stiffly or eccentrically bound ''books"? Professional 
writers do not bind their manuscripts. Why should you? 

It is useless and laughable to decorate a manuscript with 
ribbons, crude drawings, and the like. These are the ear- 
marks of eccentric amateurism. 

The first page of either bound or unbound short manu- 



1 88 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

scripts may be kept clean by adding an extra sheet of 
letterpaper bearing precisely the same wording as you 
place at the top of the title page. Do not number this fly 
leaf sheet. The last page should be blank, to help keep the 
manuscript clean. 

Be sure to number (folio) the sheets from first to last, 
and not merely by chapters. Suppose an editor should 
inadvertently drop your manuscript at the same moment 
that a gay breeze blew in his window. This has frequently 
happened. 

Do not fail to keep a carbon copy of your manuscript, 
and note on it all your revisions. Almost all editors are 
very careful of proffered material; a very few, however, 
are conscienceless. Besides, mail bags are sometimes 
destroyed. 

Use large and strong envelopes for sending out manu- 
script. Many a contribution reaches the editor in a soiled 
condition because the flimsy envelope has been torn in 
transit. 

It is far better to enclose a stamped, self-addressed, 
tough envelope for the possible return of material, but if 
you really cannot do this, send stamps — if you do not, you 
are not likely to see your manuscript again. Stamps may 
be enclosed in oiled paper or in a small envelope, or they 
may be inserted in slits made in a piece of stiff paper. It 
is not desirable to paste parts of the stamps on either the 
letter or the manuscript, unless the stamps are attached by 
the little strips of unprinted but gummed paper which 
come on the edges of stamp sheets. The postal clerk will 
give you stamps off the edge if you ask him — with a smile. 



POINTS ON PREPARING MANUSCRIPT 189 

Do not pin or clip stamps to your letter, and in no circum- 
stances put them in the outer envelope loose. 

Be sure to prepay all postage fully, at letter rates. 
Manuscript positively may not legally be sent by parcel 
post. Some packages may slip by, but the practice is 
dishonest, and may cause trouble in the end. 

It is a good plan to stamp your name and address in 
very small type on each sheet. 

At the top of the first page of your manuscript place the 
following information: 

Submitted by 

Henry L. Potter, 2500 words. 

136 Drew St., 

Binghamton, N. Y. 

MR. ULYSSES OF ITHACA 

BY HENRY L. POTTER 

. In estimating the number of words, count several lines 
on the average page in order to average the niunber of 
words to the Hne. Multiply by the number of lines in the 
page, and then by the number of pages. Count the short 
lines as though they were full, and estimate carefully. 



CHAPTER XV 

HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 

Intelligent marketing is scarcely less important than 
efficient writing, for in the great number of instances the 
successful writer has had in mind from the beginning the 
general if not the specific market for which he is produc- 
ing a particular piece of work. The only exceptions are 
those works of art which are literally inspired — and they 
are exceptional in every respect. It is not alone in find- 
ing a market that m-ost inexperienced writers fail, but in 
planning for it. 

I. Four Ways of Marketing 

(a) Calling on the editor should always be an excep- 
tional practice. The writer of importance is welcome in an 
editorial office — if he is not a bore — but the tyro had better 
stay away, for his call is Hkely to be merely an interruption. 
These are hard words but honest. An editor's time must be 
as carefully conserved as that of the surgeon to whom he 
has sometimes been compared. There are very few pro- 
posals which a writer may not make more effectively in 
writing than by word of mouth. An editor's stock in 
trade is his judgment, and he prefers to exercise it not in 
the presence of the writer, so in most instances a personal 
call can serve no good business purpose. 

Once in a long while an editor may suggest in an inter- 
view a special want which will open the way to a market, 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 19I 

but it is only reasonable to suppose that such *' tips'* will 
be reserved for writers whose work is known. There have 
been cases, too, in which the personality of the writer has 
so impressed the editor that a valuable opening has fol- 
lowed, but these are too exceptional to make the personal 
call really valuable in the long run for the beginner. If the 
editor is glad to see a lovely woman it is because he is 
human — not because he is an editor. He would soon be 
himting a new chair if he allowed charming faces to sell 
him inferior manuscripts. 

A letter of introduction will usually procure an inter- 
view, though even then the results are rarely of importance 
to either editor or writer. Speaking generally, only a lesser 
member of the editorial staff is open to callers — the time 
of a busy editor is of money value to his employers and 
''the chief" knows that, with all his desire to help young 
writers, he cannot afford to spend much time in explaining 
wants which may be inferred from the pages of his maga- 
zine, or in instructing novices when helpful handbooks and 
reliable schools give much more detailed information than 
he could convey in a month of interviews. 

Of course the sensible reader will see that all such advice 
must be weighed and discarded or adopted with discrimi- 
nation. Rules have been known to have exceptions. Yet 
the prudent person will not begin by considering himself as 
exceptional — if he does so he must be prepared either to 
demonstrate his conviction or to meet with rebuffs. These 
words of counsel are based on the experiences of many 
editors and writers, and to fly in the face of good practice 
is to accept a handicap. It may be best to do so, but the 



192 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

chances are largely in favor of him who considers the ex- 
periences of others. 

(b) Using a friend as intermediary has in unusual 
circumstances proved of help, yet, just as with the letter of 
introduction used to get an interview, this course is oftener 
a drawback. An editor secretly stiffens, beneath a suave 
exterior, the moment he feels that a lever is being used to 
lift a new writer into his magazine. And is not this atti- 
tude perfectly reasonable? He must make merit the sole 
open sesame or in that far he is an inefficient editor. The 
utmost that mediation can procure is precisely what the 
editor is paid to give without mediation — the fair consider- 
ation of a manuscript. It is hopeless to try to convince 
many young writers that manuscripts are fairly weighed 
by all decent magazines, but this is a true statement never- 
theless. A woman who knows that she does not want a 
piece of Malta lace is not under obligation to give up her 
housekeeping time to look over the wares of a Syrian ped- 
dler, and an editor usually knows at a glance whether what 
is offered is worth further consideration. If writers spent 
more time in preparing the right material for the right 
markets they would spend less time on the "pull" side of 
the swinging door and get on the "push" side. 

(c) The literary agent is often useful in handling really 
salable material, especially in making foreign sales through 
his English house, but all his experience and knowledge do 
not make it possible for him to place any other than really 
good manuscripts. Most young writers who want an agent 
do not produce marketable manuscripts. They have tried — 
vainly and not very wisely — to sell their literary wares and 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED I93 

then conclude that because they live away from the great 
cities they are handicapped — which is in itself a fallacy — 
and that literary agents must know secret ways for making 
editors disgorge fat checks. Nothing could be farther from 
the truth. Still other beginners conceive the original 
idea that an agent is a good substitute for paying post- 
age. They abhor the necessity for buying many stamps 
and prefer that an agent should take this risk in their 
stead. 

The truth is that reliable and efficient literary agents in 
the United States are not legion but may be counted 
literally on the fingers of one hand. Writers of ability who 
produce considerable material and who are unwilling to 
undertake the work — for it is work— of both studying 
markets and offering their writings here and abroad, may 
profitably employ an agent, particularly for novels, 
serials, and short-stories. I know of many such instances. 
I have, however, never known of a case in which mediocre 
material was successfully handled continuously by an agent. 
It is quite true that a good representative knows markets 
and can find openings which are unknown to the average 
writer. It is also true that he usually gets fair prices for 
what he sells. What is more, he will act as a literary and 
business adviser for a writer whose work is succeeding and 
often thus develop him rapidly. Yet many writers gain 
the same results without resorting to help — by following 
with common sense the sort of methods suggested in the 
rest of this chapter. 

All rehable agents must charge a reading fee before 
imdertaking to handle a manuscript. If they did not, the 



194 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

tax on their time would be prohibitive. Some are willing 
to send out unusually promising material at their own 
expense, but most require a postage deposit, and rightly. 
All, of course, charge a commission on sales — from ten to 
fifteen per cent is a fair average — and arrange the contract, 
collect from the publisher, and account to the author — 
promptly, if they are honest. 

It is the custom of many tricky agents to suggest literary 
revision — for a fee — in the case of nearly every manuscript 
that comes in. Two or three reliable agents make similar 
suggestions when in their opinions the manuscript would 
be helped by revision. Needless to say, this is an honest 
scheme only when the material actually needs criticism 
or revision and when it shows promise of an eventual sale. 
Suspect the motives of any agent who seems more con- 
cerned about getting revision fees than he is about effecting 
sales. 

Most editors are willing — if a stamped addressed enve- 
lope is enclosed — to suggest the name of a trustworthy 
agent, but it cannot be emphasized too strongly that it is 
utterly hopeless to ask an agent to handle work that is not 
above the ordinary. Positively he cannot sell it. 

(d) The U. S. Mail offers in almost every case the best 
way to sell manuscript. Whether you wish to sell to a 
single periodical or to or through a syndicate,^ more suc- 
cessful marketing, by ten to one, is done by mail than 
through any other medium. 

^ Journalism and Journalistic Writing, by Ernest Newton Bagg, 
with chapters by J. Berg Esenwein and Brett Page — a forth- 
coming volume of "The Writer's Library" — will contain a full 
section on writing for syndication. 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 1 95 

2. How to Study Markets 

(a) Examining the magazines is obviously the first step 
in gaining a first-hand knowledge of their needs. Public 
Libraries, news stands, and the library tables of friends 
may be used in supplementing the larger or smaller col- 
lection of copies you have personally. Many periodicals 
will send free a sample back number for four cents to 
cover postage. If you ask for a sample, frankly say that 
you are a writer — do not at the same time ask for an 
advertising rate card, unless you are general (magazine) 
advertiser. Magazines maintain costly propaganda to 
get new advertisers, so it is not fair to mislead them into 
following up a fictitious prospect. A later paragraph sug- 
gests how market information may be collected by making 
a study of the magazines and preserving the record for 
use. 

(b) A collection of magazines is rather easily made if 
one can give them accessible storage space. Three copies 
of each magazine are ten times the value of one for showing 
the tone and general contents. Recent magazines are 
often procurable for a trifle at secondhand stalls and if 
your friends know of your purpose many will help by giving 
you little-known journals. Your business acquaintances 
take trade papers — ask to see them. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that very old issues will not show current 
needs. 

(c) Collect tables of contents of as many different maga- 
zines as you can, if you cannot give up the room to a collec- 
tion of full magazine specimens. On these contents pages 



196 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

you may pencil such information as may help you to recall 
the length and kind of material used. 

(d) Infer from quotations from the magazines made in 
newspapers and the digests the sort of material different 
periodicals print. It is easy to make and preserve cuttings 
from these sources. 

(e) A card index or a notebook record of the following 
information will prove valuable if kept up-to-date: 

(i) The exact names of magazines and their ad- 
dresses. It is surprising how many contributions are 
addressed inaccurately, and even to the wrong city. An 
offering directed to The Ladies^ Home Journal, New York, 
would indeed be forwarded to Philadelphia, but a para- 
graph intended for The Popular Science Monthly would 
not reach its destination if the sender had omitted the 
word Science. 

(2) Kinds of material used. Here again it is amaz- 
ing to see how little knowledge is shown in sending out 
material. Cuttings of specimen paragraphs pasted on the 
card or in the notebook will serve as an example of the 
average length of items used and the form of statement 
apparently preferred by the magazine. Larger cuttings, 
of course, are also valuable but in a lesser degree. 

(j) Rates of payment. These are not always availa- 
ble, but are occasionally stated in the magazines. Editors 
will sometimes — but not always — ^give definite information 
as to rates, if the request is accompanied by a stamped 
addressed envelope. In fact, most magazines have only a 
minimum rate and pay according to the value of material 
to them. 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 1 97 

Experience, too — your own and that of others — will help 
make this record more complete. The market depart- 
ments of magazines for writers also give this information 
in certain instances. Since periodicals often change their 
poHcies, acquaintance with the character of material used 
should be renewed as often as possible by looking over the 
latest copies obtainable. 

(f) Printed helps. Besides the several handbooks that 
Hst the markets for literary material, there are several 
writers' periodicals which contain departments devoted to 
the latest news of magazine markets, reports of literary 
prize contests, and changes in the magazine field. Chief 
among these are The Editor, Ridgewood, N. J.; The 
Writer, Boston, Mass.; The. Bulletin of the Authors^ League 
of America, New York; and The Writer^ s Monthly,^ Spring- 
field, Mass. 

Nearly every newspaper office owns a copy of a late 
newspaper directory — an annual containing in geographi- 
cal arrangement, and in classes, the names and addresses 
of thousands of newspapers and magazines. This book 
will cheerfully be shown you if you ask. It is of great value. 
If you have access to the offices of an advertising agency 
you will be sure to find there also various printed lists of 
periodicals. Of course these directories contain no state- 
ments of market requirements. 

(g) Association with writers will often be the means of 
getting and giving market information. Little clubs of 
literary workers may be made especially helpful. 

1 Edited by the author of this book. — The Publishers. 



igS WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

J. Utilizing Market Knowledge 

(a) Adaptability is the first requisite for success in 
magazine writing. Goldsmith was a literary hack. 
Stevenson wrote on a surprising variety of subjects. 
Eugene Field did *' space writing" for years. Kipling 
began his career as a journalist and wrote on everything. 
How often must the neophyte be told that he cannot begin 
at the top — except it be the top floor of a lodging house, 
and that need not be a disaster. The trifling single dollars 
and small checks for versicles, jests and information-items 
will mount to a respectable sum if you are alert to furnish 
what many editors want. For years American merchants 
made little impression on South American marts because 
they did not furnish their goods in precisely the way the 
buyers wished. The same futile ineptitude holds back 
many writers. Literally, anyone who has intelligence and 
can write plain English can sell to the magazines and sell 
often — though not nearly everyone can sell fiction, long 
articles, drama and poetry. Be adaptable. Study not 
only the contents of each magazine physically, but grasp 
its tone — that is really half the secret of suiting an editor. 
Everything must be grist for the writer's grinding — and 
everything must be ground, fine or course, as readers like. 
The many-sided writer will be the writer of many ac- 
ceptances. By and by comes the next step: 

(b) Specializing. All the while that you are gathering 
" little " things to write — a storiette of seven hundred words 
for a newspaper, a syndicate, or a popular magazine, the 
report of a unique aeroplane for a scientific magazine, a 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 1 99 

recipe for curing automobile engine troubles, for almost 
any periodical, a plan for an entertainment for a woman's 
journal, an anecdote for a big monthly — what not — you 
can be gravitating toward your ultimate self, finding your 
specialty. 

That specialty, of course, need not be a life work. In 
your locality you may become a (not the) correspondent 
for a magazine — or a class of magazines — by sending in so 
much acceptable material that they will naturally look to 
you for that sort of thing when an order is going out. You 
may so completely master a fresh field — new ones come 
into being quickly these days — that you will be recognized 
as writing with authority. The story of extracting crude 
oil from Utah and Colorado shale will make a feature 
article, but in the writing of that article a dozen by-product 
"editorials," articles and items will be found suitable for 
other periodicals. Only see that each article or item is 
handled from a different angle and your markets will 
multiply. 

Yesterday a young man said to me, "I am writing 
advertising, but I have an eye turned to fiction writing, 
which is going to be my big work by and by." Thus 
adaptability, versatiUty, is to serve specialty — fiction is to 
be an avocation until it may wisely become a vocation. To 
do this he will utilize his present market opportunities, and 
gain pen-facility day by day. 

(c) Forecasting popular interest. By this I do not 
mean timeliness, but the greater matter of making a shrewd 
estimate of what the public is going to be interested in. 
The song writer argues that it is about time for a fresh in- 



200 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

terest, or the revival of one long dead. The writer must do 
the same — and he can. The moment one wave mounts to 
its crest he must not alone prepare for its decline but 
presage the crest of the next wave. To know the past and 
the present — important prerequisites ! — fits one to predict 
the future. Be up with the times, ahead of the times — but 
not so far ahead as to be unintelligible. Great inventors 
are not content to fill the proverbial long-felt want — they 
invent for what the people will want tomorrow, and make 
them want it. 

(d) Inventing markets. The writer must continually be 
a merchant — he must sell the buyer not alone what he has 
been used to buying but something new. Would a maga- 
zine be brightened by a department which you are well 
qualified to write or conduct, suggest it — and send a full 
sample of what you can do. Is an editor catering to yester- 
day's demand, show him how to please the people of today 
and tomorrow. Don't tell him — show him. Is there sure 
to be a growing demand for information which no maga- 
zine now gives but which you possess or can get, invent a 
means of giving that information popularly. There are 
scores of openings in the magazine field — waiting to be 
pried open. The trouble is that thousands of writers are 
trying to push into niches already jammed full of fixtures. 

Who, do you suppose, invents all the ideas for new de- 
partments in the magazines? Not always the editors, by 
any means. Let no one say the periodicals are over- 
stocked with writers so long as a fresh magazine idea is 
born every day. 

(e) The photograph as an adjunct of writing. Only a 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 20I 

little space can be given to this market suggestion, but the 
mere idea should prove a fruitful one. True, more photo- 
graphs are sold without accompanying articles than with 
them, but the writer who can send a clear snapshot of an 
object he describes takes the inside track Human-interest 
pictures are best — a strange animal with a child in the 
same picture is better than either alone. Buildings, in- 
ventions, natural scenery, catastrophes, decorations — 
invest them all with hmnan interest if you would make 
your camera help your pen work. Think of the sectional, 
real estate, outing, travel, farming, domestic, popular 
science, and other periodicals, to say nothing of the daihes 
and the illustrated weeklies — newspaper and magazine — 
which use photographic material. Some require only a 
Hne of description, others a mere breezy title, while others 
buy one or two hundred words of text — but the market is 
large. ^ 

In sending photographs be sure to pack them safe from 
breakage, use a shiny print, and write on the back, " Please 
return to Miriam Robinson, 92 Ardmore St., Hartford, 
Conn." — or "words to that effect." 

(f) Foreign markets do not offer wide openings nor 
many, yet there is a chance for the American writer. A 
good literary agent can best serve a successful writer, but 
he will rarely offer abroad the work of the inexperienced 
unless it is quite exceptional. At the same time, it is quite 
possible for the writer to market his own work. 2 

1 See Footnote 2, page 47. 

2 The Writer's Monthly, Springfield, Mass., prints in its Sep- 
tember, 1916, number a very full list of British markets, so far as 
conditions made by the war permitted. 



202 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

American settings had better not be emphasized in sto- 
ries offered abroad — the locale of a great city, for instance, 
is enough for a city story. The British magazines are more 
hospitable to tales of adventure than to complicated plots; 
boys' stories are in demand; and crisp notes of events of 
international interest, accompanied by photographs, are 
always in demand by the great illustrated weeklies. 

Instead of enclosing American stamps for the return of 
manuscript go to the post office and buy an international 
postal coupon to cover the full amount. 

4. The Best Practice in Marketing 

Keep a manuscript record. On page 57 is an article 
fully describing a good system. 

Do not send out your carbon copy if you can avoid it. It 
is usually less easily read, and editors are likely to suspect 
that the material is being offered to more than one maga- 
zine at the same time — a thing which should never be done 
as it may lead to unpleasant complications. Editors 
abhor the practice. 

Do not send out soiled manuscript — it makes editors 
feel that the manuscript has been the rounds, and they are 
human enough to wonder if what others editor do not like 
may after all contain weaknesses which their own eyes 
have failed to detect. 

As soon as you have an acceptance do not flood the same 
journal with other manuscript. 

It is better not to offer more than one full-length manu- 
script at a time to one editor. 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 203 

Letters to editors should be short, or omitted entirely. 
Writers prejudice their chances by writing long letters, 
particularly letters of explanations as to how the story or 
article came to be written, reasons why the writer needs 
the money, and catalogues of private woes. 

Wait at least a month before asking for a report on your 
manuscript — preferably, wait longer. Often, delay means 
special consideration; some editors, however, are simply 
slow; others are occasionally human enough to be ill or 
take a vacation and your manuscript may be awaiting the 
verdict of the chief. Delays are exasperating and some 
magazines do not treat writers fairly in this respect, but 
most editors are glad to decide on material as quickly as 
possible. It no more pays for a writer to write abrupt, not 
to say irritable, letters to an editor than it does for a sales- 
man to quarrel with a merchant who does not buy from 
him. 

To send a manuscript to an editor by name and mark the 
letter *' personal" not only will fail to guarantee a personal 
reading by that editor but may delay any reading of the 
manuscript until the editor returns from an absence. 

If you propose a series, send two or three specimen 
numbers — quite enough to make the editor absolutely sure 
that he knows what he is buying. 

It is better not to set a price on your manuscript, though 
a few well-known writers do. Most, however, do not. If 
you are not content to offer your manuscript "at regular 
rates," courteously ask the editor to make an offer for your 
manuscript. It is far better for the beginner to accept the 
regular rates of the magazine, and send no more manu- 



204 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

script if the check is not satisfactory. This assumes, of 
course, that the regular price is within reason. It is not 
uncommon for young writers to set a preposterous valua- 
tion on their writings. 

It only cheapens a manuscript in an editor's eyes to 
have it offered "for half price" — or even without compen- 
sation, as is often done. This, of course, applies only to 
prosperous periodicals that pay for their material. 

Many editors refuse to read any further in a manuscript 
several of whose leaves have been designedly misplaced or 
lightly stuck together, so that the writer may discover if 
the whole manuscript has been read. Never permit your- 
self to use this ancient device. 

if you call on the editor, do not ask him to read your 
manuscript while you wait; and do not forget to leave 
return postage with your manuscript — every day editors 
receive manuscript by messenger or in person from those 
who apparently forget the return stamps. 

It is a good plan to number all small items, such as jokes, 
so that your record may be easily kept. Inaccurate rec- 
ords have led many writers to offer material already sold 
to another magazine. 

Material for special issues and suitable for particular 
seasons should be offered from four to six months in ad- 
vance. The weeklies consider material a shorter time in 
advance of publication than the monthlies. 

Do not ask the editor to give you a criticism of your 
manuscript — he will volunteer criticism if he thinks a few 
suggestions will help you to revise the story so that he may 
use it. Editors would like to help you, but it would take 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 205 

all their time if they gave specific reasons for rejecting the 
thousands of manuscripts read yearly. 

The following advice is quoted from "Writing the Short- 
Story," by the present author: 

"Don't let the printed rejection slip humiliate you. Really 
great writers get them, constantly. It would take too much time 
and money for an editorial staff to write personal letters to all 
who offer unsolicited manuscript. 

"Don't load up your envelope with printed notices of your 
privately-published book, your lecture, or any sort of personal 
advertisement. They will all go to the wastebasket imread. 
The editor is concerned only with your story. If that is good, 
he may accept it in spite of your previous literary offenses. There 
is some excuse for a writer's saying in his letter, * This month's 
Scribner's contains a story of mine, and I send you another in the 
same vein.* The editor likes to know that, for he may prefer an 
accepted author, under certain conditions, and may have over- 
looked your story in the other magazine, though usually he glances 
over * all the periodicals ' — and always reads those in his own line. 

"Remember that stories too similar to those lately published 
are as likely to prove unavailable as those which are too different 
in general tone. 

"Err rather upon the side of brevity than of length. 

"Don't be discouraged if your story comes back. Reread it, 
and if you are quite sure it is the best you can do, send it out 
again, using your best judgment as to the magazine to which it 
seems suited. If it comes back again, lay it aside for another 
reading when it will be fresh again. If you see anything wrong 
then, bravely rectify it and send it out once more. Many a story 
has been sold on its tenth, yes, its twentieth trip. But it is a 
waste of postage and patience and editorial brain to keep on 
sending inferior material to magazines which are plainly too 
critical to accept loosely constructed work." 

It is not right to offer material that has been printed in 
whole or in part before, unless you say so definitely. 
If you offer a manuscript without specifying what rights 



2o6 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

are offered, and endorse for collection the publisher's check 
in payment, you thereby sell all your rights in the manu- 
script. If you wish to sell "first magazine rights only" — 
sometimes called "first serial rights," meaning the right to 
print in that magazine — and no other rights are offered, 
you must say so specifically, either on the face of your 
manuscript or in your letter, and better in both, otherwise 
confusion and possible loss will arise. There is much dif- 
ference in practice in reserving for the author second serial 
rights (sometimes called "syndicate rights"), book rights, 
photoplay rights, dramatic rights, foreign rights, and trans- 
lation rights, instead of selling to the publisher all rights. 
Experience only can guide you. Some magazines refuse to 
buy any material to which they do not acquire all rights; 
others are willing to specify precisely what rights they are 
bujdng and what rights are reserved by the author; while 
still other publishers are wiUing, if requested, to cop)n*ight 
the material on publication in the name of the publisher 
but promise to assign later to the author all rights other 
than first magazine, or " serial," rights. In general, it may 
be said that most publishers are willing at once to concede 
book rights to the writer, but many magazines are not so 
ready to give up moving picture rights. It must be re- 
membered, however, that comparatively fev»^ short-stories 
and serial stories are salable for photoplay production. In 
case of doubt it is best to take advice. Most young writers 
are too glad to get magazine checks to make them anxious 
to quarrel over a remote chance for future profit. In any 
case, examine carefully the wording and the meaning of 
the receipt offered you to sign. 



HOW MANUSCRIPTS ARE MARKETED 207 

Members of the Authors' League of America, 33 West 
42nd Street New York (dues $10.00 yearly), are advised 
by that organization not to sign any contract with a pub- 
lisher which has not first been submitted to the legal depart- 
ment of the League for inspection. Any writer may join 
this useful organization. 

Contracts are made only for the sale of longer literary 
work, such as book material, plays, photoplays, and shorter 
work in series. 

Writers must not expect to receive as large pay for 
material to which they have sold only the first magazine, 
or serial, rights as when all rights have been acquired by 
the pubhsher. 

No article, poem or piece of fiction may be copyrighted 
v/ before publication, but the author may regain the copy- 
right by arrangement with the publisher, in the way just 
explained. 



APPENDIX A 



A Digest of the Principles of Prose Writing 



(a) Pure 
Words 



I. Diction — The Right Use of Right Words 

1. Avoid obsolete words, like whilom. 

2. Purely local and slang words had 
better either be quoted or con- 
fined to dialogue; as heft, for 
weight or bulk; or fake, for 
jraud. 

3. Rarely use a foreign word before 
it has been naturalized. 

4. Never use a foreign word when 
there is an equally short and 
precise English equivalent. 
Duet is better than duetto. 

5. Be too alert to use the wrong word 
because it sounds like the right 
one, as demean for bemean, 

6. Poetical words, like erst and me- 
thinks, should be confined to 

(b) Proper I lofty and impassioned prose 

^^''^^ I and to satire. 

7. Be sure that technical terms — 
like sequelcB, for consequences — 
are used only in technical arti- 
cles. Be sure that more familiar 
technical words are perfectly 



210 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Proper 
Words 
{Continued) 



intelligible from their context. 

8. Do not use contractions like 77/, 

except in dialogue or in very 
familiar prose. 

9. Do not use a word twice in two 

different senses in the same 
paragraph without making the 
distinction clear. 

10. Prefer simple words to those more 

high-sounding. Do this by not 
using many words of Latin 
origin — mingle a few longer 
words with many short ones. 

11. Never use a word out of its ac- 

cepted meaning unless the con- 
text makes your usage clear. 



(t) Precise 
Words 



12. 



13. 



Among synonyms, choose the 
word that expresses exactly 
your shade of meaning, both in 
kind and in degree. 

Avoid general words when specific 
words will say precisely what 
you mean. 



Kinds 



II. Sentences 

14. Short sentences should be used for 
vigor, emphasis, rapid move- 
ment, and impassioned dis- 
course. 



APPENDIX A 



211 



Kinds 
{Contintied) 



15. Too many short sentences pro- 

duce a disconnected, jerky 
effect. 

16. For detail, smoothness, rhythm, 

and beauty, use longer sen- 
tences. 

17. Use care lest long sentences ob- 

scure the meaning and slow up 
the movement. 

18. Use balanced sentences to bring 

out comparison or contrast, as: 

"If the flights of Dryden therefore 
are higher, Pope continues longer 
on the wing. If of Dryden's fire 
the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the 
heat is more regular and constant. 
Dryden often surpasses expectation, 
and Pope never falls below it. 
Dryden is read with frequent as- 
tonishment, and Pope with per- 
tual delight." — Johnson's Lives 
of the Poets: "Pope." 

19. To sustain the immediate interest, 

use periodic sentences — that is, 
sentences that would be gram- 
matically incomplete if ended 
before the last words. The fol- 
lowing sentence could not be 
cut without injury: 

"By a curious irony of fate, the places 
to which we are sent when health 
deserts us are often singularly 



212 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Kinds 
(Continued) 



beautiful. ' ' — Stevenson : Ordered 
South. 

20. In easy and informal discourse it 
is quite right to use a greater 
number of loose sentences, 
which might have been ended 
earlier and yet be grammati- 
cally complete. The following 
example from Stevenson im- 
mediately precedes the fore- 
going periodic sentence: 

"Often too, they are places we have 
visited in former years or seen 
briefly in passing by, and kept ever 
afterwards in pious memory; and 
we please ourselves with the fancy 
that she shall repeat many vivid 
and pleasurable sensations and take 
up again the thread of our enjoy- 
ment in the same spirit as we let it 
fall." 



III. Essential Properties or Style 



(a) Grammatical 
Correctness 



21. Do not shift tenses, as: 

Martha was naturally dismayed. She 
rises and paces the floor — her whole 
bearing shows consternation. 

22. Do not allow your tenses to be 

out of harmony, as: 

" I never was so long in company with 
a girl in my life — trying to enter- 
tain her — and succeed [succeeded] 



APPENDIX A 



213 



Grammatical 
Correctness 
{Continued) 



so ill." — Jane Austen, Mansfield 
Park. 

23. Avoid placing an adverb between 

the parts of an infinitive. To 
sweetly sing is called a split in- 
finitive. 

24. Do not let intervening words, or 

an inverted order, disturb the 

agreement of the verb with the 

subject, as: 

"In these expressions were shadowed 
out the whole of that course sub- 
sequently developed." — H. L. Bul- 
WER, Historical Characters. 

25. Use shall and willj should and 

would J with care. 

26. Use the subjunctive mood when 

the condition is doubtful, the 
indicative mood when the con- 
dition is regarded as a fact. 
Note the difference in condi- 
tions in these sentences: 

If he he an imposter why are there no 

proofs advanced? 
If he is an imposter you have made 

him one. 

27. Fit verbs to collectives according 

to the sense and not by rule. 
This people is and These people 
are express different ideas. 

28. Do not use su^h as a final pro- 



214 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Grammatical 
Correctness 
{Continued) 



noun, as: Have nothing to do 
with such. 

29. When that is used properly as a 

relative it has a closely restric- 
tive sense, whereas the relative 
which introduces an explana- 
tory clause, and when so used is 
usually preceded by a comma. 

I hate personal liberty that means 

merely license. 
I hate personal liberty, which means 

merely license. 

30. Use only a nominative after any 

predicate form of the verb to he, 
as; It is /, not. It is me; The 
patriots were they, not, The 
patriots were them. 

31. Use whom only as an objective, 

never as a nominative. 
Disraeli uses whom incorrectly 
here: 

"The younger Harper, whom [who] 
they agree was nice-looking, etc." 

32. Be sure that each group of words 

you punctuate as a sentence 
contains, or clearly implies, a 
predicating verb — a verb which 
definitely makes a declaration, 
asks a question, or utters an 
exclamation. Verb-forms end- 



APPENDIX A 



215 



Grammatical 
Correctness 
{Continued) 



ing in -ing (as singing), without 
a supporting verb (like are, 
were), are not enough to form 
the predicate of a sentence. 



(b) Clearness 



33' 



34- 



Place adverbs and adverbial modi- 
fiers close to the words they 
modify. Be particularly careful 
in placing only. 

"Between a word and its modifier 
do not put anything that can 
steal the modification." 

— Genung. 

35. Let there be no doubt as to which 

of two or more nouns of like 
gender and number a personal 
pronoun relates. This fault is 
most common in long sen- 
tences; 

Obscure: Jack told his brother that 
he was a thief. 

36. Be sure that all omitted parts of 

a sentence are clearly implied. 



(c) Unity and 
Coherence 



37. During the course of a sentence do 
not loosely shift the logical sub- 
ject, but maintain your view- 
point, even in comparing and 
contrasting. One main thought 
should dominate each sentence. 



2l6 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Unity and 
Coherence 
{Continued) 



38. Do not crowd conflicting ideas, or 
thoughts not naturally related. 

Rarely attach relative clauses to 
other clauses which are them- 
selves dependent. 

A too free use of parenthetical 
expressions tends to switch 
thought away from the subject. 

Rarely attach a supplementary 
expression to the end of an 
already complete sentence. Too 
many loose sentences indicate 
loose thinking. 



39 



40 



41 



IV. Special Properties of Style 



{a) Emphasis 



42. For emphasis, give a conspicuous 

place in the sentence to the 
main idea, using the other parts 
as a background. 

43. Invert the position of the modi- 

fier to give it emphasis, as: 
A forehead high-browed and massive. 

44. By putting subsidiary matter first, 

the logical subject will be em- 
phasized (periodic sentence). 
4 5 . Repetition of sentence-forms some- 
times adds emphasis, but this 
device should be used spar- 
ingly. 



APPENDIX A 



217 



Emphasis 
{Continued) 



(Jb) Force 



(c) Harmony 



46. Observe proportion so that the 

sequence of ideas may lead up 
to a climax. 

47. Plain, specific, short, and strong 

words give vigor to sentences. 

48. Avoid the repetition of ideas, and 

the use of unnecessary words — 
especially connectives. 

49. "End with words that deserve 

distinction." — Wendell. 

50. For weighty force, cut out modi- 

fiers, condense clauses and 
phrases into equivalent words, 
and choose the most emphati- 
cally direct words. 

51. Do not depend upon itaUcs and 

exclamation points to strength- 
en weak thoughts, weak words 
and weak arrangement. 



52. 



53. 



54- 
55. 



To secure harmony suit the sound 
of words to the sense (ono- 
matopoeia). 

Select synonyms when it is nec- 
essary to repeat ideas, but do 
not lose the shade of meaning. 

Use alliteration sparingly. 

Arrange your material with an 
ear to the prevalence of har- 
monious sormds when it is read 



2l8 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Harmony 
{Continued) 



{d) Vitality 



(e) Variety 



aloud, but remember that un- 
due smoothness may destroy 
force. 

56. Use direct, idiomatic English, but 

distinguish between good 
idioms and time-worn expres- 
sions. 

57. Be chary in quoting apt phrases — 

invent your own. 

58. Look out for the pitfall of top- 

lofty or poetic language. Sim- 
plicity is best. 

59. Rapid movement is gained by 

suppressing details, using noims 
that are so expressive that ad- 
jectives are not needed, and 
inventing epithets to portray 
characteristic points. 

60. Figures of speech give variety. 

61. Used guardedly, circumlocution 

gives variety. 

62. Suggestion relieves the monotony 

of direct description. 

63. It gives variety to have one char- 

acter describe another instead 
of using direct description. 

64. Do not open several successive 

sentences in the same gram- 
matical form. 



APPENDIX A 



219 



Variety 
{Continued) 



65. Vary declarative and interroga- 

tory with exclamatory forms. 

66. Expression may be varied by 

changing the voice of the verb. 

67. Study the inversion produced by 

introducing sentences with 
"there" and "it." A free use 
of this device destroys force. 

68. Learn to change from direct to 

indirect quotation (discourse). 

69. Use the historical present very 

rarely. 

70. Learn how to paraphrase poetic 

into prosaic language, and con- 
trariwise. 

71. Practice contracting clauses into 

phrases and into words; as 
well as expanding words and 
phrases into clauses. 



(f) Figures 
of Speech 



72. Let your figures^ be short, fresh, 

striking, and never far-fetched. 

73. For condensed and vivid descrip- 

tion, use simile, metaphor, allu- 
sion, and personification. 

74. Interrogation, exclamation, and 

hj^erbole are used for impres- 
sive assertion. 



1 The Art of Versification gives examples of all the figures of 
speech. 



220 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Figures 

of Speech 
{Continued) 



75. Apostrophe, and vision (the his- 

torical present), are suited to 
dramatic narration. 

76. For illustrations, study the use of 

figures of comparison. 

77. A thing may be affirmed by deny- 

ing its opposite (litotes) : 
"A citizen of no mean city. — Paul. 

78. Figures must harmonize with the 

tone of the composition. 

79. Do not mix your comparisons, as: 

These temples of legislation, though 
fruitful of lofty spirits, are defiled 
by the chaffering of money-mad 
bargainers. 

80. Figures may easily be carried to 

extremes and used to excess 
(fine writing). 

"The devouring element lapped the 
quivering spars, the mast, and the 
sea-shouldering keel of the doomed 
Mary Jane in one coruscating 
catastrophe. The sea deeps were 
incarnadined to an alarming extent 
by the flames, and to escape from 
such many plunged headlong in 
their watery bier." — Quoted by 
Andrew Lang. 



The Relations 
of the 
Thoughts 



V. The Thought-Divisions 

81. Each division of the composition 
should be dominated by one 



APPENDIX A 



221 



The Relations 

of the 

Thoughts 
(Continued) 



main thought, and to that 
prime thought each subordi- 
nate idea should definitely con- 
tribute, 

82. The unity of each thought-divi- 

sion must be preserved by 
rigidly excluding everything 
that does not build it up into a 
perfect whole. 

83. The several divisions — whether 

they be sentences, chapters, 
sections, or volumes — must fol- 
low each other progressively, 
each growing out of its prede- 
<:essor and leading to its suc- 
cessor, so that the whole series 
may be like the steps of a stair- 
way. 

84. The transition from one division 

to another must be smooth, 
natural and unforced. 



VI. The Whole Composition 



85 



Entire 
Effect 



Let your style be determined by 
the type of the composition. 
86. Do not sacrifice earnestness, in- 
dividuahty, and directness, to 
gain literary finish; you really 
need not. 



222 



WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 



Entire Effect 
{Continued) 



87. Subordinate each part of the com- 
position to the effect of the 
whole. 



APPENDIX B 

POINTS FOR SELF-CRITICISM IN FICTION 
WRITING 

1. Is my theme clearly reducible to a single brief 
expression? 

2 . Is my theme fresh, or treated from a fresh viewpoint? 

3. Is my plot clear, progressive, and natural? 

4. Is the comphcation (main crisis in the struggle) a 
real one, or does it seem artificial? 

5. Is the outcome natural, yet surprising? 

6. Is every vital action well motivated, or have I 
simply forced things to happen to fit my plot without 
suggesting convincing motives? 

7. Have I introduced any useless incidents, delays and 
digressions? 

8. Are there enough twists to keep the plot from being 
obvious? 

9. Are the chief characters brought out prominently? 

10. Is the dialogue bright, brisk, natural, suited to the 
characters? 

11. Is the dialogue commonplace? 

12. Does every part of the dialogue actually help to 
develop the story? 

13. Are the opening and closing passages well suited to 
the style of story-telling I have selected? 

14. Does the setting actually serve as back-ground for 
the action, or have I used it chiefly for its own sake? 



224 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

15. Have I used any needless words? 

16. Have I repeated any words when synonyms might 
better be used? 

17. Are my sentences clear and grammatically correct? 

18. Have I used a good variety of sentence forms? 

19. Does each paragraph stand out as a little composi- 
tion in itself, leading up to a climax of its own, and does it 
both naturally follow the preceding paragraph and prepare 
for the succeeding one? 

20. Does the whole story drag at any point, or is the 
movement consistently rapid? 

21. Is the tone of the story harmonious throughout, or 
does it shift its viewpoint? 

22. Is the story well balanced, or is one part sacrificed 
needlessly to help the other? 

23. Is the story long enough to bring out the plot in a 
well-rounded manner? 

24. Is the story short enough to make it compellingly 
interesting? 

25. Does the story leave precisely the impression I 
designed that it should? 



APPENDIX C 

Discriminations in the Use of Words 

Cautionary Note: — Foreigners who are not well ac- 
quainted with English are often led into laughable errors 
by relying on the dictionary or a book of synon3ans. Though 
in a lesser degree, this is sometimes true also of young 
writers. It should be remembered that the tendency of 
dictionary makers is to let down the bars for every new 
word, or every new meaning for an old word, that has been 
used either widely or by some one good writer. The re- 
sults are often painful to a lover of English undefiled. The 
fact that a word is included in the dictionary as having a 
certain meaning does not mean that careful writers ap- 
prove it. This is unfortunate, but true, and there seems no 
present remedy for the writer but to be not too ready to 
use new words, or old words in a new sense. 

In using any word-book it should be kept in mind also 
that a dictionary must treat words so briefly that it is 
impossible to show all the twists of usage which in certain 
circumstances justify the use of a word in a given sense, 
but in other circumstances do not. Many words have a 
secondary meaning, and even several more, but each such 
subsidiary meaning is likely to demand a special manner of 
usage which requires consideration. 

Present good literary usage, then, is based on the origin 
of the word, its usage in the past by careful writers, what 
need there may be for an expansion of or change in its 



226 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

former meaning, and how widely — and wisely — ^it is used 
by standard writers today. A safe rule is this: When in 
doubt, use a word of whose meaning you are certain. 

We speak about a peddler who carries around his 
pack. 

If you write "the above paragraph" it may not prove to 
be higher up on the page. Say foregoing; or preceding^ if 
the paragraph goes immediately before. 

Do not say above for more than — as " above a thousand 
people." 

We accept presents — we do not accept of them. 

It is pompous to say "He accepted a position" — as 
though in doing so he conferred a favor. 

When we have accomplished our task we have attained 
success. 

An action usually consists of a series of acts. Use act for 
a single deed. 

Contractions like ad for advertisement do not belong in 
good prose. 

In good usage, a blow is not administered, but dealt. 

The price of admission procures admittance, 

A thing may be aggravated — made worse — only after it 
has been made bad. Scratching irritates the skin — more 
scratching aggravates the irritated surface. 

Omit of in "all of his inheritance." 

Never write alright for all right. 

To allude to is not to mention or namey but to refer to 
indirectly. 

One man alone is not the same as one man only. 



APPENDIX C 227 

An amateur is not necessarily a novice^ who is new to the 
position. 

Amid is poetic; amidst is the prose form. 

Do not use and who, or and whichy unless the same rel- 
ative pronoun has been used before in the same sentence. 

Prefer more definite connectives to the indiscriminate 
use of and. But, as, whereas, while, then, since, for, and 
because are good words. 

Antecedents mean things, or events, and not persons, 
that have gone before. 

Having anticipated her act, he prevented it. He expected 
a visit. 

He was anxious about his father's health, so he was 
eager to go to see him. 

Do not use any place for anywhere. 

In simple English, arrival and coming are better than 
advent. 

Write artist for one skilled in his art, not for an artisan 
trained in his craft. 

A man usually is an aspirant for office before he becomes 
a candidate. 

At length means after a time; at last means finally, and 
suggests that difficulties have been overcome. 

An audience hears a lecture, the spectators see a perform- 
ance, and a congregation gathers for some special purpose, 
such as at a church service. 

Use author and poet instead of authoress and poetess. 

An avocation is a side pursuit; a vocation is a regular 
calling. 

If we avoid danger we may avert — turn aside — accidents. 



228 WRITING rOR THE MAGAZINES 

Aware refers to things external to us; conscious, to 
sensations and thoughts within us. 

Balance is a term in accountancy, and not a substitute 
for remainder or resL Do not say ''the balance of the 
day." 

Say between two, but among several. 

Say, burst, not bursted. 

Bogus is colloquial for fraudulent, or counterfeit. 

By any manner of means is bad English; by any means 
is good. 

Do not say ''He is a shoemaker by trade" — by trade is 
superfluous. 

Calligraphy means beautiful writing, hence it cannot be 
bad. 

Capacity is a passive quahty, capability is active. The 
capable mechanic made a tub of large capacity. 

Do not use caption for heading, 

A casualty implies accident, hence it is not synonymous 
with death, though a casualty may result in death. 

Do not confuse character with reputation, 

A man claims that to which he has a real or an alleged 
right, but he asserts that a thing is true. 

A coffin is not necessarily a casket. Undertakers recog- 
nize a difference. 

To conclude is to come to a decision after consideration, 
but to close is to end. 

Condign punishment is deserved punishment — it does 
not imply severe, * 

Do not say that a marriage was consummated when you 
merely mean that a couple were married. 



APPENDIX C 229 

Continuous means without interruption, whereas con- 
tinual signifies being constantly renewed. 

When Congress is convoked — called together — for a 
special session by the President, the members convene — 
come together. 

Cortege is more pompous than procession. 

Credible is worthy of belief; creditable is worthy of credit. 

Crime is a violation of a statute; sin is a violation of a 
law of God; vice is a serious moral wrong. 

Deceased is a euphemism for dead. It does not really 
soften an idea to use a high-flown word for a simple one. 
The same is true of demise and death. 

Strictly, to decimate the ranks of an army in battle is to 
kill or wound one in ten. 

The adjective decisive means deciding with finality, as 
''a decisive victory;" decided means strong, firm. 

Demean signifies to behave; bemean means to degrade. 

Better not use depot for passenger station, or station for 
freight depot. 

Directly refers to a route; immediately refers to time. 

Dirt is filth, and not necessarily earthy soil, gravel, and 
the like. 

Distinguish between discomfort and discomfit, which 
means to defeat utterly. 

Divers means sundry, several; diverse means different. 

Do not speak of an *' eminent divine^"* — say clergyman, 
or minister. If he is in charge of a church he may be called 
a pastor (shepherd) ; some churches use the term rector. 

Do not say divine service, but religious service. 

Do not confuse dock with pier, or wharf. 



230 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

Do not donate, but give — simple words are best. 

Each is singular — Each of us has his faults. 

The elder of two brothers; John is older than Tom. 

^^ Elegant weather" is ridiculous — elegant means refined, 
polished, nicely discriminating. 

Else should not be followed by hut. "Else than" is 
proper, "Else that" has a different meaning. 

Enthuse is not a recognized verb — ^it is colloquial. 

Water is essential to the body because it is a part of its 
make up — an essence; water is necessary to man, because 
he needs it. 

An event is a large matter which may include several 
incidents. 

Every is singular and quite different in meaning from 
all. Say " Every one ^5 " — not are. 

Evidently means plainly, therefore really; apparently 
means seemingly. 

Exceptional is unusual; Exceptionable means open to 
exception or objection. 

An exhibit is something shown in an exhibition. 

Vse farther when you refer to distance, hut further with 
the meaning of addition, as "He went farther," "He said 
further." 

A female is not necessarily a woman. 

Feminine applies to mental and spiritual characteristics, 
female to sex. 

Fetch means to go and bring — not merely to bring. 

Write first J and not firstly, even when followed by 
secondly. 

He fled from the enemy when he flew in his aeroplane. 



APPENDIX C 231 

Coii&n.e former and latter to a group of two only. 

One may found a church yet not succeed in establishing it. 

Funds are not money in general but moneys set apart in 
a specific way. 

Do not say funny when you mean strange. 

Generally means very widely; usually means as a matter 
of custom or use. 

Getting to be is not so good as becoming. 

Write ''He was graduated j^^ not "He graduated.'^ 

A great man need not be a big one — great is a badly over- 
worked word. 

Do not use groom for bridegroom. 

Wheat is grown, potatoes are raised, boys are reared, and 
horses are bred. 

Say *'He was hanged'^ — not hung. 

Do not say "a healthy ocupation^' — say wholesome, or 
healthful. 

Henceforth means from this time on; hereafter means at 
some unspecified time in the future. 

Write hillside, not side-hill. 

Do not say, "How ever could you do it?'' but "How could 
you ever do it?'' 

Hurry implies disorderly effort after speed. 

One may be hurt without being harmed. 

Do not confuse idea with opinion — which is formed 
after consideration. 

We may be ill without being sick — nauseated. 

Do not say illy for ill. Ill is an adverb and needs no 
finatfy. 

in the charge of does not mean in charge of. 



232 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

To inaugurate implies a much more formal ceremony 
than to begin. 

Do not use individual as a substantive when you mean 
merely many or woman. 

Initial is more pompous than first. 

Insignificant means small only in a derogatory sense. 

Gold is virtually insoluble; the problem is unsohable. 

Integrity rightly applies to the whole character, while 
honesty applies to one phase of it. 

Interment is more pompous than burial. 

Do not say it would seem for it seems. 

She wore the jewels she had bought from the shop that 
sold jewelry. 

Do not say a juvenile when you mean a child. 

Say this kind, that kind, these kinds, or those kinds — never 
these kind, or those kind. 

Do not say kind of a for kind of. To say, "This is a new 
kind of a store" is ridiculous because there can only be one 
kind of one store. 

The late is superfluous in "The widow of the late William 
Harcourt." 

In the expression later on, on is redundant. 

Use lay for placing a thing, and lie for reclining, 

Better use lengthwise than lengthways. 

Do not write less when you mean fewer — less refers to 
quantity, fewer to number. 

She let the boy alone after his brother had left.. 

Prefer lighted to lit. 

Likely refers to any probability, liable implies an un- 
pleasant probability. 



APPENDIX C 233 

Do not say "I feel like I was going to be sick" — say, "I 
feel as if I were going to be sick." 

Do not say limh^ but definitely leg^ or arm. 

Limited does not mean small^ nor does it mean inade- 
quate — though a limited supply may be both small and in- 
adequate; it might be large yet inadequate. 

Distinguish low-priced from cheap. 

Lurid means of a ghastly hue, not bright red. 

Luxuriant means very abundant; luxurious means with 
rich comfort. 

Distinguish between mad and angry. 

Do not confuse majority with plurality. 

Do not use majority for most, as "The majority of 
people." "The majority of the people" may imply a 
vote. 

Even intelligent people sometimes confuse marital with 
martial — sometimes naturally, though not justifiably. 

For the distinction between masculine and male, see that 
between feminine and female. 

A meet refers to a gathering for sport, while a meeting has 
a general application. 

Do not use most for almost, as, "The flowers are most 
all gone. 

Do not write murderous when you mean deadly, or 
dangerous — as, "a deadly weapon." 

There is such a thing as mutual friendship, but not a 
mutual friend, as mutual implies a giving and a taking, and 
not merely possessing in common. 

Negligence is a failure to comply with a rule or custom; 
neglect is a failure to act. 



234 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

It is a vulgarism to say that the automobile could not 
negotiate the hill. 

Negro is good English, darky is colloquial. 

Nice is as badly overworked a word as grand. 

Nicely does not mean well, but neatly, finely, delicately. 

A noise is an unpleasantly loud somid. 

Do not use nothing like instead of not nearly — "She is 
nothing like as tall as her sister" is incorrect. 

A part is a section of the whole; a portion is a part of a 
whole assigned to or taken by someone — as, *'He ate his 
portion." 

Use part in preference to role. 

Do not use party for person, or people. 

Patron is often pompously used for customer, A cus- 
tomer gives value for value, while a patron confers favors. 

Do not write people when you mean merely family, or 
relatives. 

Do not say, "He earns $3.00 per day" — a day is good 
English; per is an accountant's term. 

Perspicuity means clearness, as of statement; perspica- 
city is the quality of being quick in discernment. 

Arsenic is poisonous, a rattlesnake is venomous. 

Do not use posted for informed. 

Practically means in a practical way, actually, really, 
and is a stronger word than virtually. "The contest is 
virtually over" means that the contest is over in effect, 
though not in fact. 

When you say, "She looks prettily^' you describe the 
manner of her gazing — not what you mean. "She looks 
pretty '^ refers to her appearance. Verbs that signify doing 



APPENDIX C 235 

take adverbs, verbs that signify appearance take adjec- 
tives. 

The free use of preside — as "presiding at the organ" — 
is pompous. 

Preventative is a corruption of preventive. 

One who professes does not necessarily pretend — one 
may honestly profess his intentions. 

A professionj like law, or medicine, is not a business. 

Proof implies more than either evidence or testimony. 
Evidence is testimony which has been admitted in evidence 
by the court. If it adequately supports the point raised, 
it furnishes proof. 

Proportion has reference to form; dimension means size. 

Proven should be used only in a legal sense — proved is the 
word. 

Quite is often misused as a synonym for moderately^ 
when it really means entirely. 

Rarely ever is a corruption of rarely, if ever. 

Do not use real for really y or very. 

Many men receive injuries and then sustain them badly. 

We recollect when we recall what has been forgotten; we 
remember only that which is present in memory — to re- 
member is an automatic process, to recollect is a conscious 
act. 

A region is an indefinite term, section is definite. 

Do not confuse regular with natural. 

Remains is a euphemism for corpse, or body. 

To remit means to send or give back; to send does not 
necessarily have this meaning. 

A country may repudiate a debt, a merchant may reject 



236 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

a claim, a father may disown a child, a judge may deny a 
petition, a governor may refuse a pardon. 

Residence is more pompous than home, or house-, just as 
reside is stilted. 

When you write retire you do not express the idea of 
going to bed. One may retire by merely going to one's 
apartments to be alone. 

We retrieve what was lost, but redeem by paying a 
ransom. 

Never use Reverend as a proper noun, nor reverend as an 
adjective before a proper noun unless you precede it with 
either a or //fe. It is incorrect to write: *' Good morning, 
Reverend," or " He met Reverend Hollis." It is correct to 
write: ''The Reverend Mr. Hollis," or "The Reverend 
James Hollis," or "The Reverend Dr. HolHs," or "The 
Reverend Mother Superior." 

It is bad form to say run a business when you mean 
manage, or conduct. 

Omit the final 5 and say toward, forward, backward, after- 
ward, upward, downward, inward, outward, homeward, 
earthward, heavenward. 

Do not use say when you mean voice — "He had no say 
in the matter." 

There is no such word as second-handed — say second- 
hand. 

In self-confessed, self is superfluous. 

Sensation is physical, emotion is of the soul. 

Do not use settle for merely pay — a settlement ends a 
matter that has been in dispute. Not all payments are 
made in settlement. 



APPENDIX C 237 

Sewerage is a system of sewers; sewage refers to the con- 
tents of the sewers. 

"He had no show^^ is colloquial — use chance ^ opportu- 
nity, opening. 

To side is colloquial, to agree is correct. 

Never say some better for somewhat better. 

Specific means definite, special means apart from the 
usual. 

To state implies saying a thing formally and defi- 
nitely. 

One stays at a hotel — he does not stop there unless he 
does not leave the place, or makes a stop there, not as a 
guest. 

Omit still from still continues. 

Not all students are scholars — learned folk. Neither is 
a pupil necessarily a scholar, or even a student — one who 
applies himself to learning. 

There is no such verb as suicided. 

Use Sunday when you mean the day of the week. The 
Sabbath is a religious institution. Some regard Saturday 
as the Sabbath. 

Survive is a transitive verb. A man does not merely sur- 
vive, but survives his comrade, or survives defeat. 

Better not say taken ill for became ill. 

A wedding takes place, an earthquake occurs — the one is 
planned, the other is not. 

Beware of the double that in long sentences: *'I told 
him that when he came back to the barn, after having 
driven Tom to town, that (needless) he should let me 
know." 



238 WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINES 

To transpire does not mean to happen^ to occur y but to 
leak out, to become known. 

Do not say ^^he tried the experiments^ — say he experi- 
mented, or he made the experiment; try is implied in ex- 
perimented. 

Do not say try and go, but try to go. 

Do not say two first, hvX first two — only one can be first. 

Say underhand, not underhanded. 

Do not say very unique — a thing that is unique is alone 
in its class — the word cannot be compared. 

Unkempt means uncombed — not merely disorderly, as of 
the dress. 

Do not write unwell for ilL 

A vacant house may not be empty. 

A thing that is valuable — of value — is not always valued. 

Various kinds is redundant because more than one kind 
implies variety. Say several kinds. 

Venal is purchasable, mercenary; venial is excusable, 
as "A venial fault." 

Verbal — is words — is not necessarily oral — by word of 
mouth. 

In ^^Philadelphia and its vicinity'^— its is needless. 

Do not confuse view-point with standpoint. 

Vulgar does not mean indecent, but common, coarse, of 
the mob. 

Do not use ways for ivay — As, *'A long ways from the 
office." 

Do not say from whence — whence means from where. 

Whip does not mean defeat. 

With a view to is not the same as with a view of. 



APPENDIX C 239 

Without is not a synonym for unless: "1 will not go 
without you" is correct; "without you go with me" is 
not. 

To witness is to see and then to report. 

It is usually better to say woman than lady. 

It is colloquial to say that "Mr Wright is worth a mil- 
lion" — his fortune is a million, he has a million, etc. 

Say, "The fabric is woven'' — not wove. 



APPENDIX D 

A SHORT READING LIST 

A well-equipped public library will contain plenty of 
books on the craftsmanship of writing which will prove 
helpful, whereas the private library can usually give room 
to only a few. The purpose of this short list is to name sev- 
eral standard works in each of the several classes so as to 
give the writer who consults it some freedom of choice. 
The list could be largely expanded without lowering the 
standard of quality. 

^'The Writer's Library," in which the present work is 
included, contains treatises on all phases of the writer's 
craft. A complete list is to be found on one of the front 
fly leaves of this book. 

The Study of Words 

Good English, John Louis Haney. Egerton Press, 
Philadelphia. XI + 244 pp. 75c net^. A large number of 
helpful discriminations in the use of words and express- 
ions. 

The Verbalist y Alfred Ayres, D. Appleton & Co., New 
York. 337 pp. $1.25. Similar to the foregoing, but also 
containing definitions and examples of figures of speech. 

Words and their Uses, Richard Grant White. Houghton 
Mifflin & Co., Boston. XX + 439 pp. $2.00. A vast 
deal of scholarly yet readable material on the subject. 

1 " Net " always means postage extra. 



appendix d 241 

English Grammar 

A Working Grammar of the English Language, James C. 
Fernald. Funk and Wagnalls, New York. VIII + 333 
pp. $1.50 net. A useful work — as untechnical as a gram- 
mar can well be. 

Connectives of English Speech, James C. Fernald. Funk 
and Wagnalls, New York. X + 324 pp. $1.50 net. A 
thorough treatment of prepositions, conjunctions, relative 
pronouns, relative or conjunctive adverbs, and introduc- 
tory particles, with many illustrations of their uses. 

The Structure of the English Sentence, Lillian G. Kimball. 
American Book Co., New York. IV + 244 pp. 75c. 
Clearly explains and illustrates all varieties of sentences. 

A Primer of Essentials in Grammar and Rhetoric, Mari- 
etta Knight. American Book Co., New York. 64 pp. 25c. 
A good condensation. 

Composition and Rhetoric 

Talks on Writing English, Arlo Bates. Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., Boston. First Series, IV + 322 pp. ; Second 
Series, 254 pp. $1.30 each. Full of inspiring and practical 
help on all phases of prose writing. 

English Composition in Theory and Practice, H. S. Can- 
by and others. Macmillan Co., New York. XVI +465 
pp. $1.25. Every phase of composition admirably taught. 

The Working Principles of Rhetoric, John Franklin 
Genung. Ginn&Co.,New York. XIV + 676 pp. $1.40. 
The fullest and best rhetoric published. 



242 writing for the magazines 

Technical Writing 

The Theory and Practice of Technical Writing, Samuel 
Chandler Earle. Macmillan Co., New York. 301 pp., 
with illustrations. $1.25 net. A notable treatise. 

Fiction in General 

A Study of Prose Fiction, Bliss Perry. Houghton, Mif- 
flin & Co., Boston. VIII + 398 pp., $1.25. An excellent 
discussion of all phases of the subject. 

Materials and Methods of Fiction, Clayton Hamilton. 
Baker & Taylor Co., New York. XXIII + 228 pp. $1.50 
net. Similar in scope to the foregoing, but somewhat less 
valuable. 

The Novel 

The Technique of the Novel, Charles F. Home. Harper 
Bros., New York. X + 285 pp. $1.50. An admirable 
discussion of a constructive sort. 

The Short-Story 

Short Stories in the Making, Robert Wilson Neal. Oxford 
University Press, New York. XIV -1- 269 pp. 60c net. 
A helpful treatise, with special light thrown on the psycho- 
logical phases of short-story composition. 

Writing the Short-Story, J. Berg Esenwein. Hinds, 
Hay den and Eldredge, New York. XIV + 441 pp. $1.25. 
The history, nature, forms, parts, and writing of the short- 
story, with many illustrative passages. 

The Art of Story Writing, J. Berg Esenwein and Mary 
D. Chambers. Home Correspondence School, Springfield, 
Mass. XI 4-2X1 pp. N^i.35. The anecdote, ancient fable, 



APPENDIX D 243 

modern fable, ancient parable, modern parable, early tale, 
modern tale, sketch and short-story fully treated, with 
complete examples of each. 

Studying the Short-Story^ J. Berg Esenwein. Hinds, 
Hayden and Eldredge, New York. XXXII + 43S pp. 
$1.25. Sixteen short-story masterpieces, complete, with 
very full explanations, biographies and critical and 
analytical notes. 

The Best Short Stories of 1915, Edited by Edward J. 
O'Brien. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston. IX + 386 pp. 
$1.50 net. An interesting collection of twenty *'best" 
magazine stories, complete, together with very full tables 
of comparison, and an index of authors and stories pub- 
lished during 19 14 — 191 5. 

Poetry 

Introduction to Poetry, Raymond M. Alden. Henry 
Holt & Co., New York. XVI + 371 pp. $1.25 net. 
Complete and scholarly. 

English Verse, Raymond M. Alden. Henry Holt & Co., 
New York. XIV 4- 459 pp. $1.25 net. A fine work, giv- 
ing specimens illustrating the principles and history of 
versification. 

The Art of Versification, J. Berg Esenwein and Mary 
Eleanor Roberts. Home Correspondence School, Spring- 
field, Mass. XII + 330 pp. $1.62. A complete treat- 
ment of the theory of poetry and the art of verse making, 
including an exhaustive chapter on Light Verse. The new 
edition contains a chapter on vers libre. 



244 writing for the magazines 

Drama 

Play Making, William Archer. Small, Maynard & Co., 
Boston. 419 pp. $2.00 net. An interesting and thought- 
ful discussion. 

Writing and Selling a Play, Fanny Cannon. Henry 
Holt & Co., New York. VI + 321 pp. $1.50 A practical 
handbook. 

The Technique of Play Writing, Charlton Andrews. 
Home Correspondence School, Springfield, Mass. XXIX 
+ 269 pp. $1.62. A brilliant and authoritative work- 
ing manual that leaves no ground uncovered. 

Humor 

Laughter, Henri Bergson. Macmillan Co., New York. 
VI + 200 pp. $1.25 net. The best analysis of the subject. 



GENERAL INDEX 



Names of writers and publishers are printed in large 
and small capitals, names of magazines and newspapers 
are in italics, titles of published material are quoted, and 
general subjects are set in "Roman," or plain, type. 



Accessory and Garage 

Journal, 14. 
Accident, 158. 
Accuracy, 44, 45, 56. 
Acetylene Journal, 14. 
Action, 167, 223, 224. 
AdaptabiHty, 198. 
Addison, Joseph, 2. 
Ade, George, 117. 
Adventure, 146, 156. 
Advertising magazines, 14, 

. 47. 
Agents^ and Mail Order 

Dealers^ Magazine, 14. 
Agriculture — See Farming. 
Ainslee's Magazine, 11, 147, 

156. 

Aircraft, 15. 

Alden, Raymond M., 243. 

"Alice in Wonderland," 

134. 
Alliteration, 217. 
All-Story Weekly, 147, 156. 
Altemus Co., Henry, 99. 
Amateur Photographer^ s 

Weekly, 13. 



American Book Com- 
pany, 241. 

American Boy, 17. 

American Building Asso- 
ciation News, 18. 

American Clubwoman, The, 

17- 
American Cookery, 17. 
American Economist, 14. 
American Education, 12. 
American Exporter, 14. 
American Forestry, 13. 
American Fruits, 13. 
American Magazine, 3, 63, 

74,87, 147, 151, 156. 
American Magazine and 

Historical Chronicle, 3. 
A merican Municipalities ,18. 
"American Note-Book," 37. 
American Penman, 75. 
American Poultry Journal, 

American Primary Teacher, 
12. 

American Red Cross Maga- 
zine, 16. 

American School Board 
Journal, 12. 



245 



246 



INDEX 



American Sheep Breeder and 

Grower, 13. 
Andrews, Charlton, 162, 

244. 
Andrews, Mary R. S., 152, 

153- 
Anecdote, The, 100-103, 

114, IIS, 116, 145. 
Antithesis, 99. 
Antrim, Minna Thomas, 

99. 
Appleton, D., & Co., 240. 
Apprenticeship, 43. 
Archer, William, 243. 
Argonaut, The, 109. 
Argosy, The, 120, 126, 127, 

147, 156. 
Aristophanes, 139. 
Aristotle, 93. 
Arizona, 17. 
Army and Navy Journal, 

13- 
Articles, 54-68, 69-91, 113, 

114. 
Art magazines, 12. 
"Art of Public Speaking, 

The," 30, 32, 7,2,. 
"Art of Story Writing, 

The," 145, 242. 
"Art of Versification, The," 

119, 128, 129, 243. 
Associated Sunday Maga- 
zines, 151. 
Association Men, 15. 
Atlantic Monthly, 11, 66, 76, 

86, 120, 127, 147. 
"At the Lattice," 129. 
Avocational magazines, 13. 
Austin, Alfred, 129. 



Authors' League of America, 

197, 207. 
Ayers, Alfred, 240. 

B 

"Bab Ballads," 134. 

Bahy, 17. 

Bailey, Temple, 152. 

Baker & Taylor Co., 242, 

Baker, Walter A., 163. 

Balance, 224. 

"Ballad of Bedlam," 136. 

"Ballad of Bouillabaisse, 

The," 129. 
Bangs, John Kendrick, 

131, 141. 
Baseball Magazine, 14. 
"Bat, The," 132. 
Bates, Arlo, 241. 
Bellman, The, 87, 147, 151. 
Bergson, Henri, 93, 100, 

244. 
"Best Short Stories of 191 5, 

The," 150-153, 243. 
"Beware," 129. 
Black Cat, The, 147. 
Blue Book, The, 156. 
Blunders, 106, 107. 
Blunders in English, 225- 

239- 
Bookman, The, 11, 74, 87, 

120, 127. 
Books News Monthly, 74, 

156. 

Book reviewing, 176. 
Books, Use of, 31-35, 240. 
Boston American, 6. 
Boston Transcript, 6, 149. 



INDEX 



247 



Bowler's Journal, 15. 

Boy's Life, 17. 

Boy's World, 16. 

Breeders' Gazette, 13. 

Breezy Stories, 156. 

Brenton, Nicholas, 78, 79. 

Brevity, 51,56, 84, 85, 114. 

Brooks, Phillips, 98. 

Brown, Katharine Hol- 
land, 152, 153. 

Browning, Elizabeth 
Barrett, 139. 

Browning, Robert, 162. 

Buffalo Journal, 109. 

Bull, The, no. 

Bulletin of the Authors' 
League of America, 197. 
Burlesque, 132. 

Burns, Robert, 139. 

Burroughs, John, 31. 

Burt, Maxwell Struth- 
ers, 152. 

'*' Business " in the play, 168. 

Business magazines — See 
Commerce magazines. 

Business Woman's Maga- 
zine, 17. 



Camera, Use of, 47. 
Canada Monthly, 76, 87, 

120, 147. 
Canby, Henry S., 241. 
Cannon, Fanny, 244. 
Carlyle, Thomas, 32. 
Carnagey, Dale, 30. 
Carroll, Lewis, 132, 134, 

135. 



Catholic School Journal, 12. 
Catholic World, 15, 74. 
Cave, Edward, 2. 
Century Magazine, 75, 86, 
121, 126, 127, 144, 147, 

151. 156. 
Chambers, Mary D., 145, 

242. 
Character, 113, 115, 158, 

167, 223. 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 132. 
Chef and Steward, 14. 
Chess Forum, 15. 
Chicago Journal, 107. 
Child-themes in magazine 

poetry, 124. 
Children's magazines, 17. 
Christian Endeavor World, 

15,87,88, 121,147. 
Christian Herald, 15. 
Clearness, 210, 211, 213, 

215. 
'Xlerke of Ye Wethere, 

Ye," 132. 
Cleveland, Grover, 71. 
Climax, 83, 84, 114, 154, 224. 
Closings — See Endings. 
Cobb, Irvin, 117. 
Coherence, 215, 216. 
Coincidence, 158. 
Coleridge, S. T., 139. 
Collier, William, ioi. 
Collier's Weekly, 11, 61, 65, 

73, 75, 86, 121, 147, 151. 
Comic, The — See Humor. 
"Comic History of the 

United States," 108. 
Commerce magazines, 14, 

52. 



248 



INDEX 



'Compensation,'' 100. 
Composition and Rhetoric, 

241. 
Compression, 56, 114, 122, 

157. 
Comrade, The, 16. 
''Connectives of English 

Speech," 241. 
Connolly, James B., 153. 
Contracts, 207. 
Contrast, 113. 
Conversation, 31, 45, 46. 

See Dialogue. 
Cooperation, 14. 
Cornell Widow, no, in. 
Cosmopolitan Magazine, 77, 

86, h^, 121, 146, 156. 
Country Gentleman, The, 13. 
Country Life in America, 

17, 75, 87, 88. 
Countryside Magazine, 75. 
CowPER, John, 141. 
Cult, cause and organiza- 
tion magazines, 16. 
Cupid's Columns, 18. 
Current events magazines, 

6. 
Current Opinion, 5, 11, 64, 

65, 161, 165, 166. 

D 

Delineator, The, 75, 87, 121, 

147, 151? 156, 157. 
Denison & Co., T. S., 163. 
Description, 115. 
Designer, The, 87, 121, 127, 

147, 156. 
Dialect humor, 131. 



Dialogue, 114, 157, 158, 
159, 161,167,168,223. 

Dick & Fitzgerald, 163. 

Diction, 140, 141, 209, 210, 
225-239. 

Didactic poems, 127. 

Digests, 5. 

Digests of principles of 
writing: diction, 209, 
210, 225-239; drama, 
166-168; fiction, 158, 
159, 223, 224; poetry, 
127, 128; prose, 209- 
222. 

Directness, 56. 

Disraeli, Benjamin, 214. 

"Doctor's Dilemma, The," 
161. 

DoDGSON, Charles L. 
("Lewis Carroll"), 132, 

134, 135- 
Dogdom, 15. 

DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & Co., 

123. 

Drama — See Plays. 
Dramatic criticism, 65. 
Dramatic manuscripts, 

Forms for, 164-166. 
Dramatist, The, 11. 
Drawings, 48, 116. 
Dryden, John, 211. 
Dunbar, Olivia Howard, 

152. 

E 

Earle, Samuel Chandler, 

242. 
Editor, The, k^^j. 



INDEX 



249 



Editorials, 61. 

Editorial work, 1 69-181. 

Editors, 43, 97, 169-181, 

190-194, 202-207. 
Educational magazines, 12, 

49. 
Educational Review, 75. 
Egerton Press, 240. 
Eliot, Maud Howe, 19. 
Elliott, Sarah Barnell, 

152- 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 

32,^39- 
Emotion, 127. 
Emphasis, 216, 217. 
Endings, 84, 88, 89, 159, 

168, 223. 
Engineering Review, 12. 
"English Composition," 78, 

" English Composition in 
Theory and Practice," 
241. 

"English Verse," 243. 

Entrances in the play, 168. 

Epigrams, 99, 100, 114. 

Epworth Herald, 16. 

Essays, 66. 

Essays, English, 2. 

Etude, The, 12. 

Everybody's Magazine, 76, 
86,121,126,147,151,156, 

157- 

Every Week, 8, 151, 156. 
Exaggeration, 104, 105, 115. 
Exits in the play, 168. 
Experience, Use of, 27, 44. 
Experience-articles, 57, 60, 
61. 



Exposition, 167. 
Extravaganza, 132. 



Fable, The, 145. 

"Familiar Letter to Sev- 
eral Correspondents, A," 
130. 

Farming and similar maga- 
zines, 13, 47, 49, 52. 

Fernald, James C, 241. 

Fiction, 113, 143-159, 242. 

Field, Eugene, 198. 

Field and Stream, 15. 

Figures of speech, 218-220. 

Filing systems, 37-39. 

Fillers, 57. 

Florists' Exchange, 13. 

"Flying-Squirrel, The," 55, 
56. 

"Foolish Showmen," 65. 

Force, 217. 

Foreign markets, 201, 202. 

"Four Famous American 
Octogenarians," 82. 

Fra, The, 66, 75. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 3. 

Freeman, Mary E. Wil- 

KINS, 28. 

Funk & Wagnalls, 241. 



Galsworthy, John, 144, 

152. 
General Magazine and His- 
torical Chronicle, 3. 



250 



INDEX 



Gentleman^s Magazine or 
Monthly Intelligencer, 
The, 2. 

Genung, John Franklin, 
215, 241. 

Gerould, Gordon Hall, 

153. 
Gerould, Katherine 

Fullerton, 152. 
Gilbert, W. S., 134. 
Ginn & Co., 241. 
Giornale de^ letter ati, 2. 
Girl's Companion J 16. 
Girl's World, 16. 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, 13. 
Goldsmith, Oliver, 198. 
''Good English," 240. 
Good Health, 14. 
Good Housekeeping, 17, 87, 

121, 147, 156. 
Goodloe, Abbie Carter, 

153- 
Gordon, Armistead C, 

152, 153- 
Grammar, 140, 212-216, 

241. 
Guardian, The, 2. 
Guiterman, Arthur, 138 

-141. 

H 

Hamilton, Clayton, 242. 
Haney, John Louis, 240. 
Hardware Dealers' Maga- 
zine, 14. 
Hardy, Robert Thomas, 

131- 
Harmony, 217, 218. 



Harper Bros., 242. 
Harper's Bazaar, 75. 
Harper's Magazine, "j^j, 86, 

105, 112, 121, 126, 127, 

146, 151, 156. 
Harte, Bret, 141. 
Harvard Lampoon, 106. 
Haskin, Frederic J., 23. 
Hate-theme in magazine 

poetry, 124, 126. 
"Havoc of Invasion, The," 

79- 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 

37. 

Hay, John, 141. 

Hazlitt, William, 95. 

"Headless Horseman, 
The," 145. 

Health and recreation mag- 
azines, 14. 

Healthy Home, The, 17. 

Hearst's Magazine, 55, 77, 
87, 2>%, 121, 146, 156. 

"Heathen Chinee, The," 
141. 

Hedonville, Sieur de, I. 

Henley, W. E., 139. 

Henry, O., 158. 

Henry Holt & Co., 243, 
244. 

Herald of Health, 57. 

HiBBARD, George, 152. 

Hinds, Hayden and El- 
dredge, 242, 243. 

Hoard's Dairyman, 13. 

Hoggson's Magazine, 14. 

Holland's Magazine, 156. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 
i3o> 139- 



INDEX 



251 



Home and Country, 17. 

Home magazines — See 
Woman's and home 
magazines. 

Home Needlework Maga- 
zine, 17. 

Homiletic Review, 15. 

Horace, 139, 141. 

HoRNE, Charles F., 143, 
242. 

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
240, 241, 242. 

House and Garden, 87. 

Housewife, The, 156. 

"How to Renew Carbon 
Paper," 50. 

Human interest, 71, 72. 

Humor, 90, 92-118, 244. 

Humorous and satirical 
magazines, 12. 

Humorous themes in maga- 
zine poetry, 124-126. 
See Light Verse. 

Humorous verse, 130, 131. 

Hunt, Una, 153. 



IdeaHstic themes in maga- 
zine poetry, 124. 
Ibsen, Henrik, 161. 
Idioms, 218. 
Idler, The, 3. 
"If I Were a Shoe Dealer," 

50- 

Illustrated Sunday Maga- 
zine, 151. 

Illustrated World, 74. 

Imagination, 30. 



Incidents, Dramatic, 167, 
223. 

Incongruous, The, 93, 104- 
106. 

Independent, The, 4, 61, 76, 
87, 121, 126. 

Index Rerum, The, 39-41. 

Index, Value of an, 7,7, ; how 
to make an, 39-41. 

Indianapolis Star, 106. 

Information, 30. 

Information- and method- 
items, 43-53- 

Information-articles, 54-57. 

Interest, 44, 55, 70, 71, 78, 
89, 127, 199, 200. 

"Interesting Story of a $100 
Bill," 62, 63. 

International Railway Jour- 
nal, 14. 

International Studio, 12. 

"International Test for 
Vision, An," 51. 

Interpretative articles, 61- 
66. 

"Introduction to Poetry," 

243-. 
Inventiveness, 46. 
Irrigation Age, 13. 
Irving, Washington, 145. 
Italics, 217. 

J 

"Jabberwocky," 134, 135. 
Jacobs, W. W., 117. 
Jerome, Jerome K., 117. 
Jests — See Humor. 
"Jim," 141. 



252 



INDEX 



"John Gilpin's Ride," 141. 

Johnson, Hugh, 153. 

Johnson, Samuel, 3, 211. 

Jokes — See Humor. 

Journal des Savants, i. 

Journal of American His- 
tory , 18. 

Journal of Educational Psy- 
chology, 12. 

Journal of Nervous and 
Mental Diseases, 13. 

Judge, 106, 109, III, 113, 
126. 

Judicious Advertising, 14. 

JUNEIN, T. P., 62, 63. 

K 

Karl Von Kraet, 131. 
Keats, John, 133, 139, 140. 
Keramic Studio, The, 12. 
Kilmer, Joyce, 139. 
Kimball, Lillian G., 241. 
Kindergarten Review, 57. 

KiPLINGjRUDYARD, 158,198. 

Knapp, George L., 63. 
Knight, Marietta, 241. 



Ladies' Home Journal, 74, 
87, 121, 126, 127, 147, 
152, 156, 196. 

Lamb, Charles, 104. 

Lane, Franklin K., 81. 

Lang, Andrew, 220. 

Language, 114. 

"Laughter," 100, 244. 

Laughter — See Humor. 



Leacock, Stephen, 117. 
Lear, Edward, 134, 136, 

137. 

"Leatherette Book Cov- 
ers," 49. 

Lee, Jennette, 153. 

Le Gallienne, Richard, 
80. 

Legend, The, 145. 

Length, of articles, 84-88; 
of poems, 120-122; of 
fiction, 144, 145, 146, 147, 
148, 149, 154, 156, 157, 
224. 

Leslie's Weekly, 47. 

Liberal Advocate, 18. 

Life, 12, 100, 106, 108, III, 
113, 126, 138. 

Light verse, 124, 126, 129- 
142.^ 

Limerick, The, 136, 137. 

"Lincoln, Life of," 34. 

Lippincotfs Magazine, 63, 
100, loi, 102, 103, 129, 
130, 131, 133, 137, 151, 

.157. 
Literary agents, 192-194. 
' ' Literary B ookkeeping , ' ' 

57-60. 
Literary Digest, The, 5, 11. 
Literary magazines, 11. 
"Little Breeches," 141. 
Little Folks, 17. 
"Lives of the Poets," 211. 
LocKHART, Caroline, 29. 
London, Jack, 29. 
London Opinion, no, iii. 
Longfellow, H. W., 129, 

139- 



INDEX 



253 



Love-themes in magazine 

poetry, 124-127. 
Lyceum World, 15. 
Lyric poetry, 127. 

M 

McBride^s Magazine, 151. 
McCalVs Magazine, 75, 87. 
McClure, S. S., 34. 
McClure's Magazine, 75, 87, 
121, 146, 151, 156,57. 

McCONAUGHY, J. W., 79. 

McCooK, Dr., 34. 
McCrae, Lee, 57-60. 
Macmillan Co., The, 241, 

242, 244. 
Magazine markets. Study 

of, 20, 42, 52, 54, 55, 72, 

73, 116, 117, 140, 195- 

197, 202-207. 
Magazine material. Kinds 

of, 19-26; saleof, 34, 35, 

36, 72, 73> 138-141, 145; 

155,190-207; sources of , 

27-42,45-48,69-74, 114. 
Magazines, differentiated 

from newspapers, 1-8 ; 

kinds of, 9-18; origin of, 

1-4; typical qualities of, 

4-8. 
Manhattan Review, 11. 
Manual Training Magazine, 

12. 
Manufactures and trades 

magazines, 13. 
Manufacturers^ Record, 13. 
Manuscript preparation, 

182-189. 



Manuscript records, 57-60, 

202. 
Markets — See Magazine 

markets; also Magazine 

material. 
Markham, Edwin, 123. 
Marsh, George T., 153. 
Masefield, John, 162. 
Mason, Walt, 117. 
Masonic Home Journal, 16. 
Masses, The, 16. 
''Materials and Methods of 

Fiction," 242. 
Maupassant, Guy de, 105. 
"Metric System, The," 82. 
Metropolitan Magazine, 73, 

75, 86, 146, 151, 156. 
"Milk for Poultry," 49. 
"Milk Prices Again," 63. 
Millinery Trade Review, 17. 
Milton, John, 139. 
Mimicry — See Parody. 
Mirth — See Humor. 
Miscellanies, 11, 17. 
Misunderstanding, 105, 106, 

107, 108, III. 
Modern Language Notes, 12. 
Modern Sugar Planter, 13. 
Monatsgesprache, 2. 
Mother's Magazine, 76, 87, 

121, 127, 147. 
Motivation, 223. 
Motor, 15, 87. 
Moving Picture World, 15. 
Munsey's Magazine, 11, 74, 

78-83, 86, 121, 126, 127, 

147, 156, 157. 
Musical magazines, 12. 



254 



INDEX 



Music Trades, 12. 
''My Chaperon," 130. 

N 

"Napoleon, Life of," 34. 
Narrative poetry, 122, 127. 
National Geographic Maga- 
zine, 74. 
National Hibernian, 16. 
National Magazine, 75, 156. 
National Sunday Magazine, 

76. 

Nature-themes in magazine 

poetry, 124-125. 
Nautilus, The, 16. 
Neal, Robert Wilson, 

242, 
"Necklace, The," 105. 
Neumarker, J. G., 133. 
News, 5. 
Newspaper differentiated 

from the magazine, The, 

1-8. 
New York Evening Post, 6. 
New York Evening World, 6. 
New York Times, 139. 
New York Tribune, 112. 
"Nomenclature," 131. 
"Nonsense Anthology, A," 

134. 

"Nonsense Books," 134. 

Nonsense verse, 130, 134- 
136. 

Normal Instructor and Pri- 
mary Plans, 49. 

North American Review, 11, 
86, 121. 

Note books, 36, 37, 44, 114. 



Novel, The, 153, 154-157, 

242. 
Novelette, The, 157. 
Nye, Bill, 108, 117. 

O 

O'Brien, Edward J., 149, 

243-. 
Obscurity, 210, 211, 213, 

215. 
Observation, 29, 44. 
Occupational magazines, 

14. 
"Ode on a Jar of Pickles," 

133- 
One-act play. The, 162, 163. 
Onomatopoeia, 217. 
Opening, Methods of, 51, 

77-83, 157, 158, 223. 
"Ordered South," 211, 212. 
Originality, 41, 46. 
Osteopathic Physician, 13. 
Our Dumb Animals, 16. 
"Our Turbulent House," 

79. 
Outdoor Life, 76. 
Outdoors magazines, 14, 47, 

52, 76, 87, 147. 
Outing, 14, 87, 121, 147, 

156.. 
Outlining, %t„ 84. 
Outlook, The, 4, II, 61, 66, 

76, 87, 121, 126. 
"Outwitted," 123. 
Overland Monthly^ 87, 121, 

126, 127, 147, 156, 157. 
Oxford University Press, 

242. 



INDEX 



255 



Page, Brett, 162. 
Parable, The, 145. 
Paragraphic material, 43, 

48, 51- 
Parkhurst, Charles H., 

100. 
Parody, 130, 132, 133. 
Parsons, Francis, 152. 
Paul, 220. 
Pearson's Magazine, 77, 86, 

i47» 156, 157- 

Penn Publishing Co., 163. 

Pennsylvania School Jour- 
nal y 12. 

Periodical defined, 5. 

Perry, Bliss, 242. 

Philatelic West and Post 
Card Collector's World, 15. 

Phillips, Stephen, 162. 

Photographic material, 47, 
48, 200, 201. 

Photo-Miniature, The, 47. 

Photoplay Magazine, 74. 

Physical Culture, 14, 77, 87, 
121, 161. 

Piano Magazine, The, 12. 

Pictorial Review, 77, 87, 121, 
146, 151, 156, 183. 

Pigeon News, 13. 

" Pippa Passes," 162. 

Plagiarism, 41, 46. 

''Plan to Keep the Chil- 
dren's Stockings Mated," 

50- 
Plato, 93. 
Play construction. Hints 

on, 166-168. 



"Play Making," 243. 
Play on words, loi, 103, 

105, 106, 107, 109, no, 

III, 112. 
Plays, 160-168, 243. 
Plot, 145, 158, 166, 167, 

223, 224. 
Poetic form, 122, 127, 128. 
Poetic plays, 162. 
Poetry, II 9-1 28; themes of, 

123-127. See Light verse. 
Poetry, 119. 

Poetry Journal, 11, 119. 
Poetry Review, 119. 
" Political Truce in Canada, 

The,"^ 80. 
Pomposity, 90, 140. 
Pope, Alexander, 211. 
Popular Magazine, 156. 
Popular Mechanics, 47. 
Popular-science magazines, 

11,47, 50, 51, 52. 
Popular Science Monthly, 

11,47,5.0,51,77,87,196. 
Precision in English, 209- 

222, 225-239. 
"Preparedness — of a New 

Kind," 81. 
"Primer of Essentials in 

Grammar and Rhetoric, 

A," 241. 
Princeton Pictorial Review, 

12. 
Professional and technical 

magazines, 12. 
Public Libraries, 12. 
Publisher and Retailer, 11. 
Puck, 100, no, 113, 126. 
Punchy 106, 112, 125, 136. 



256 



INDEX 



Punning verse, 130. 
Puns, III. 



Questioning others, 31, 89. 

Questions and Exercises, 
25-26, 41, 42, 52, 53, 66- 
68, 90, 91, 117, 118, 128, 
141, 142, 159, 168. 

Quotations, Use of, 218. 

R 

Railroad Man's Magazine, 

77. 

" Raising the Spelling Stand- 
ard," 49. 

Rambler, The, 3. 

Reading, 31-33. 

"Reading List, A Short," 
240-244. 

Realism, 158. 

"Real Summer Girl, A," 

133- 

Recreation magazines, 14. 

Red Book, The, 146, 156. 

"Reform Under Compul- 
sion," 63. 

Red Man, The, 16. 

Religious and ethical maga- 
zines, 15. 

Research, 33, 70. 

Reviews, 5, 11. 

Review of Reviews , 5, 76, 86. 

Rhetoric, 241. 

Rhetorical principles, 209- 
231. 

Rhyme, 140. 



Rhythm, 140. 
Rider and Driver, 15. 
Rights in literary material, 

205-207. 
Roberts, Mary Eleanor, 

119, 128, 129. 
Rock Products and Building 

Material, 14. 
RoTHROCK, Harry A., 137. 
Rudder, The, 15. 
RusKiN, John, 32. 



St. Nicholas, 17, 55, 56, 87, 
121, 126, 147, 156, 157. 

Salesman, 14. 

Sallo, Denis de, i. 

Sample copies, 9. 

Satire, 112. 

Satirical verse, 130. 

Saturday Evening Post, 66, 
76, 86, 121, 146, 152. 

School Arts Book, 12. 

Scientific American, 47. 

Scribner's Magazine, 76, 86, 
121, 126, 144, 146, 151, 

152, 153. 156. 

Sectional magazines, 17. 

Self-criticism, Methods of, 
68. 

Self-questioning, Methods 
of, 24, 28, 89. 

Selling methods — See Mag- 
azine material. 

Sentences, 210-212, 223. 

Sentiment, 113. 

Serial stories, 154-157. 

Setting, 114, 223. 



INDEX 



257 



Shakespeare, 124, 139, 140, 
161. 

" Shakespeare, William, "80. 

Shaw, G. Bernard, 161. 

'' Shoes of Happiness, The," 
123. 

Short Stories, 146, 156. 

''Short Stories in the Mak- 
ing," 242. 

Short-story, The, 145, 146, 
242. 

Simplicity, 56, 89, 210. 

SiNGMASTER, ElSIE, 1 53. 

Situation, 113, 167. 
Sketch, The fictional, 143, 

144, 145- 
"Sketch Book, The," 145. 
Sketching, 48, 116. 
Sloane, William, 34. 
Small, Maynard & Co., 

243, 244. 
Smart Set^ The, 121, 126, 

127, 147, 156. 
Smith, Gordon Arthur, 

153. 
Smith's Magazine, 156. 
Snappy Stories, 121, 126, 

127, 147, 156. 
Sonnets, 127. 
Sorrow and death as themes 

in magazine poetry, 124, 

126. 
Southern Woman's Maga- 
zine, 76, 87, 107, 121, 126, 

127, 147, 156. 
Special-interests magazines, 

18. 
Specialized magazines, 5, 6, 

9- 



Specializing, 21, 22, 198, 

199. 
Spectator, The, 2. 
Sporting Goods Dealer, The, 

Sports magazines, 14, 47, 

87. 
Spurgeon, Charles H., 

84, 85. 
Steele, Richard, 2. 
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 

211, 212. 
"Story of England, The," 

78, 79- 
Strand Magazine, 47. 
"Structure of the English 

Sentence, The," 241. 
Struggle an element in plot, 

115, 167, 223. 
"Study of Prose Fiction, 

A," 242. 
"Studying the Short- 
Story," 243. 
Style, 84, 212-220. 
Subjects, 55,.57> 72, 141. 

See Magazine Material. 
Successful Farming, 49, 77. 
Sully, 93. 

Sunday editions, 8, 117. 
Sunset Magazine, 17, 77, 

147, 151, 156. 
Suspense, 167. 
Swain, Joseph, 57. 
SwoYER, A. E., 55, 56. 
Sydney, Sir Philip, 24. 
Sympathy, 97. 
Syndicates, 8. 
Syndicated material, 23. 
Synon, Mary, 152. 



258 



INDEX 



Synonyms, 217, 224. 

Synthesis, 83, 84. 

System, 14, 50, 76, 87, 122. 



Tabloid versions of plays, 
161, 162. 

Tale, The, 144, 145. 

"Talks on Writing Eng- 
glish," 241. 

Tammany Hall, 100. 

Tarbell, Ida, 34. 

Tattler J The, 2. 

Taylor, Bayard, 133, 139. 

Taylor, Jane, 132. 

Teachers, Suggestions to,xv. 

Technical writing, 242. 

"Technique of Play Writ- 
ing, The," 162, 244. 

"Technique of the Novel, 
The," 143, 242. 

Tenderness, 127. 

Terhune, Albert Payson, 

23. 
Thackeray, W. M., 129. 
Theatre Magazine, 15, 87, 

122. 
Themes — See Magazine 

material. 
"Theory and Practice of 

Technical Writing, The," 

242. 
Thought-divisions, 220, 221. 
Thought and reflection, 29, 

30, 33- 
" Through a Looking Glass, ' ' 

,134. 
Tit-Bits, loi, 107, 108, III. 



Titles, 51, 72, 74-77. 114. 
Todays Magazine, 50. 
Tone, 72, 73, 127, 198, 224, 
Town Topics, 17. 
Towner, Horace, 79. 
Trades Union News, 16. 
Trained Nurse and Hospital 

Review, 13. 
Travel Magazine, 86, 146. 
Travel articles, 12, 19. 
Travesty, 132, 133. 
"Truthful James," 141. 
Twain, Mark, 28, 98. 
Typewritten manuscript, 

183, 184. 



U 



Union Signal, 15. 
United Mine Workers^ Jour- 
nal, 16. 
Unity, 72, 215, 216, 220, 221. 
Usage in English, 225-239. 



Valparaiso Vidette, 107. 
Vance, Arthur T., 183. 
Van Dyke, Henry, 66, 69, 

144, 153; 
Vanity Fair, 113. 
Van Vorst, Marie, 29. 
Variety, 43, 139, 218, 219, 

224. 
"Verbalist, The," 240. 
Versatility, 43, 139. 
Vers de societe, 129, 130, 

138. 

Vers libre, 128. 



INDEX 



259 



Verse — See Light verse; 

also Poetry. 
"Versification, The Art of," 

119, 127, 129. 
Viewpoint, 224. 
Vitality of style, 218. 
Vocational magazines, 13. 
Vogue, 17. 
"Voice of the East to the 

Voice of the West, The," 

131- 
"Voice of the West to the 
Voice of the East, The," 

131. 
VoUa Review, 16. 

W 

Wall Street Journal, 5. 
War themes in magazine 

poetry, 124, 125. 
Webbe, 3. 
Weekly Memorials for the 

Ingenious, 2. 
Welliver, Judson C, 82. 
Wells, Carolyn, 134, 137, 

141. 
Wendell, Barrett, 77, 78, 

84, 217. 
Werner & Co., E. S., 163. 
Wharton, Anne Hollings- 

WORTH, 19. 
Wharton, Edith, 153. 
" Where the Fun Comes in," 

Whimsical verse, 130, 137, 

138. 
White, Richard Grant, 
240. 



Whittier, J. G., 133. 
"Why Men Move Chairs," 

57- 
Wide World, The, 47. 
Wightman, Richard, 66. 
Williams Purple Cow, 108. 
Wilson, McLandburgh, 

131- 
Witherup, Anne W., 130. 
"Without Benefit of 

Clergy," 158. 
Woman's and home maga- 
zines, 17, 47, 52. 
Woman's Home Companion, 

75. 77, 87, 122, 147, 183. 
Woman^s Magazine, 17. 
Woman Voter, The, 17. 
Wood, John Seymour, 153. 
Words, Study of, 240; use 

of, 209, 210, 224-239. 
"Words and their Uses," 240. 
"Workers, The," 29. 
"Working Grammar of the 

English Language, A," 

241, 
"Working Principles of 

Rhetoric, The," 241. 
World's Work, The, 14, 76, 

86. 
Wright, William, 153. 
Writer, The, 197. 
"Writer's Library, The," 

30, 129, 162, 240, 242, 

243, 244. 
Writer's Monthly, The, 11, 

50, 57-60, 74, 87, 183, 

184, 197, 201. 
"Writing and Selling a 

Play," 244. 



26o 



INDEX 



"Writing for Vaudeville," 

162. 
''Writing the Short-Story," 

143, 242. 
Wyckoff, Walter, 28. 



Yachting J 87, 



YoNGE, Charlotte M., 

34. 
Young^s Magazine, 147, 

156. 

Youth's and children's 

magazines, 17. 
Youth's Companion, 17, 

156. 

Youth's World, i6. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2007 

PreservationTechnologiG 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATK 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



